Recycling Online Math Projects

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Recycling Online Math Projects
Presented at AMATYC November 2,
2006 Cincinnati, Ohio Math on the Web Themed
Session

• Mary Beth Orrange
• Professor Mathematics
• Erie Community College
• orrange_at_ecc.edu

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Credit goes to

• Leslie Redwine
• Prince Georges Community College

for introducing me to this project.
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Projects online

• The purpose of incorporating projects into an
  online course is to create a sense of application
  generally developed in a seated class and is
  often omitted in the online environment.

I incorporated the use of MathXL into my online
class a year ago. Assigning projects balances
the emphasis on skill development.
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Projects online

• Three projects throughout the semester
• Numerical
• Linear Modeling
• Modeling with Exponents and Logarithms

The linear modeling project is the one described
in this presentation. The project stays the
same, but the data differs from semester to
semester.
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Linear Modeling Project Data

• Data sets I have used
• Price of first class postage stamps (original)
• The Federal minimum wage
• College tuition and fees in community colleges
• First year college enrollment in public colleges
  in New York state

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Cost of First Class Postage Stamps
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Federal Minimum Wage
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Tuition
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Enrollmentin Public Colleges in New York State
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Linear Modeling Project

• Three pages in the project folder
• Things to practice before starting the project
• The project assignment
• Use your calculator the regression line

Students may choose to work together in groups,
but at this time it is not required.
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Before

• Make sure you know how to use the following
  before you tackle the Linear modeling project
• How to use the slope formula (y2-y1)/(x2- x1)

• How to write an equation of a line using the
  point-slope formula  y - y1 m(x - x1)

• Change a line from the point-slope form into the
  Slope-Intercept form of a line y mxb

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Before cont

• Find and interpret the x-intercept of a line, let
  y 0 and find the value for x. 

• Find and interpret the y-intercept of a line, it
  is b when the equation is in the form y mxb 

• Learn how to find the line of best fit or
  regression line on your calculator.

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Project Requirements

• Describe the data set in words
• Construct a scatter plot of the data
• Pick any three ordered pairs from the data
• Find the slope and equation of the line passing
  through the points, two at a time.

Stamp data
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Project Requirements cont

• Using the equation of each of the lines found,
  calculate and describe the meaning of the
  x-intercepts.

• Using the equation of each of the lines found,
  calculate and describe the meaning of the
  y-intercepts.

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Project Requirements cont

• Using the equations of the lines found, predict
  the y value for years not found in the data.

• Describe which equation best fits the original
  data set.

• Find the line-of-best-fit or regression line
  using the entire data set.

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Instructions to the students
Using your calculator

• Describe in detail for the students how to use
  the TI-83 and TI-84 calculators to determine the
  linear regression line that fits the given data.

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Questions/Comments?