Syllabus for Information Literacy component of MAT 101: Concepts Of Mathematics

Syllabus for Information Literacy component of MAT 101: Concepts Of Mathematics Goals and Objectives. Symbolization Truth Tables Assessment

 

 

 

Goals and Objectives.

• Use real-world database searches as an example of Boolean logic makes the mathematics relevant.
• Provide a foundation of skills for research techniques across the curriculum.
  • Use research topics being assigned in composition courses.
• Introduce the student to the syntax of both educational and recreational databases.
• Incorporate several abilities of Information Literacy.
  • Know: Recognizes the extent of information needed
  • Access: Locates appropriate information effectively
  • Evaluate: Examines information for content, validity, reliability
  • Use: Accomplishes a specific task using the information
  • Ethics: Accesses and uses information ethically and legally

 

Symbolization

• After symbolizing both simple and compound statements as done in the mathematics course, discuss that a database uses a word.
• Use a quoted string, called a literal string to search for a phrase as in a general case.
• Discuss how some databases might view the phrase global warming as global AND warming .
• Search / Database / Research terminology.
  • hit is the same as article is the same as result.
  • query is the same as search.
• Stress that different databases have syntax rules.
• Precedence
  • Some text state AND and OR do not have a precedence. In most databases AND has higher precedence than OR. NOT binds to the phrase and parenthesis behave like mathematics.
  • Connect to ~(~p OR q) is different than ~ (~p) OR q

 

Truth Tables

• Connect a true row of a truth table means a result contains your search.
• Use quoted strings in examples along with the single letters.

 

Assessment

During the spring semester, the following question was asked:

Suppose you were doing research for a science class on global warming.

a. Would you expect the search greenhouse and (gases or effect) to produce the same results as (greenhouse and gases) or (greenhouse and effect) and explain why using the logic learned in this course.

 

18 students responded.

 

• 8 correctly identified the Distributive Law.
• 2 verbalized or reasoned out that they would get the same argument without stating the word Distributive.
• 6 incorrectly reasoned that they would get different results because the use of the words and and or.
• 6 left the question blank.

 

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