Jim Loats, Ph.D.
Professor of
Mathematical Sciences
Metropolitan
State College of Denver, Denver Colorado
There will be no regularly scheduled office hours during summer break.
Phone: 303-556-3109Fax: 303-556-5381
Email Address: loatsj@mscd.edu
Mail Address: Campus
Box 38, P.O. Box 173362, Denver CO 80217-3362
Education: B. A. Oklahoma State
Univ., M. S. Ohio Univ., and Ph.D. in Logic
& Set Theory, Univ. of Colorado Boulder
Areas of Interest: Mathematics Metropolitan State College of
Denver.
History of Mathematics:An Episodic History of Mathematics - Mathematical Culture Through Problem Solving, by Steven G. Krantz, pub. MAA. ISBN: 978-0-88385-766-3. Search with this info to purchase the text directly from the publisher for $68 + shipping. Silly suggestion: Consider becoming a student member of MAA for $30 before you buy the text and save $12 on the text.
Introduction to Problem Solving: NO TEXTBOOK.
On campus I work with the Center for Urban Education, a group of Metro faculty, staff, DPS teachers, administrators and members of the community who are interested in being part of the improvement in learning for K-12 students in west Denver schools.
I'd like
to introduce you to the books I have co-authored:
Algebra Unplugged is a fun, easy to read, non-text for
beginning algebra. It is a lively introduction to the concepts of algebra for
readers who like to laugh while they learn. It has lots of stories that explain
the basic ideas well but without any of those annoying exercises. A great gift
... after you finish reading it yourself. If you are a teacher, experiment with
recommending sections of the book to your students. While many of us
(especially math teachers) learned math by listening to our teachers and
doing problems in the textbook, often some of us learn best by reading
well crafted and interesting explanations. This book has those explanations!
That was our main reason for writing it the way we did.
Calculus For Cats provides a vivid introduction/review of
the topics in beginning calculus using silly stories and analogies involving
cats, mice and other animals. Its style is similar to Algebra Unplugged
- both supply all the words that are missing from most math textbooks. Some
readers who had already taken calculus, reported gaining insight about what it
was all about! Enjoy.
Some
other items that are available:
On October 9, 2009 at the Fall 2009 CCTM conference I gave a talk on "What is real number?" The link is to the power point for that talk. And here is a rough draft of my spoken parts in that talk.
Here is a link to the History of Mathematics class web site that I co-teach with Carmen Rubino for UCD each summer. In addition to the course materials that we use in teaching the class, you can also see many cool posters that our teachers created - a great resource if you'd like to bring History of Math to life in your middle or high school classroom.
This page of Principles
of Mathematical Thinking is one of the best descriptions of my goals for
math students of all ages.
Here is the set of questions
from NCTM that has been very helpful to me in learning to teach a
student-centered classroom.
Here is a collection
of materials that I have assembled for teachers of mathematics.
The best way
to reach me is by using the email address: loatsj@mscd.edu
Thanks,
Dr. Jim