Week Three

In this week of class we went over concepts related to disjunction, negation and Sets. This week we started to veer in a different direction of MAT137, which is nice but I anticipate will cause difficulty in the future. I am excited to see the direction this course will take. It seems right down my alley and getting more and more interesting each lecture. Larry’s enthusiasm bolsters the students’ attentions and causes most people to stay interested, but sometime a few students struggle with grasping certain concepts and when they ask the professor they still struggle even when the professor explains. I think sometimes Larry could be more thorough with questions he is given, and make sure the students fully understand what he is trying to portray. Or the students should just study after the lecture to make sure they understand.

Our tutorial this week was a lot better than the last. We were given a more difficult worksheet and concept to understand and it caused the class discussion to be a lot more in depth. The tutorial worked really well when everyone contributed to the discussion and it wasn’t based around the T.A teaching but rather using our classmates to feed off of and share ideas with. The environment was great because it felt like nobody was afraid to ask questions, and when they did it sparked discussion that helped everyone better understand the topic.   

Weeks One & Two

In our first two weeks of class we covered a lot on how to understand different types of quantifiers and mathematical symbols which will allow us to understand the problems that will be thrown at us throughout the year. So far this class (CSC165) and MAT137 have overlapped immensely which is greatly beneficial. This overlap is what allows me to follow each course without too much confusion. It feels like I am taking the same course twice in the week with the only difference being CSC165 has some python thrown in, essentially just changing the language we learn through.

Initially I was confused on the venn diagram portion of our course. I think the most confusing aspect was grasping that it would be impossible for something to be in the second circle (Belonging to the sets). Eventually it became very clear after discussing with a friend. It really helps to share ideas, even just to hear your own thoughts outside of your own head.

Going to my first tutorial was an experience. The entire class was very quiet before class started which caused a sense of awkwardness to arise. Eventually our teaching assistant asked if everyone had done the preparation; everyone had. We went over the worksheet with ease. The entire class had hardly any questions. It felt like the T.A hadn't been left with enough to go over. We finished going over the worksheet forty minutes in without any difficulty, seeing as everyone had already learned the material on their own. The quiz took under a minute and we were all out of there. I thought tutorials were more about learning in a different environment. It felt like it was just a formality with not a large amount of learning. I predict in the future tutorials will become a more intensive learning experience as the course becomes more advanced.