M1 Class Summary for Jan 29, 2017

Instructor:	Fatima Al-Raisi
Attendance:	Suhaib (5 new students joined the class for a short period of time)
Homework	Due Feb 5 Beast 4b 18,19 25, 26, 27, 28 59, 60, and 61
Class Activities:	-Review and summary of counting chapter exercises 89,93,95 Gently introducing a generalization and the concept of combinations nCr -Cards In class exercises 98,102 -Start with logic chapter Exercises 1-13
Concepts	1. Counting summary a. Permutations  and arrangements, factorials b. Counting and geometric concepts c. Counting with Venn Diagrams d. Combinations: Examples: creating teams, creating pairs, Cards examples, nCr --------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Logic: -from information to valid conclusion -how to organize information for easy inference -logic puzzles: exercises 14,15,17 -minesweeper: exercises 20, 23, 25 -shape-number cards: exercises: 30,32 -Liars and truth tellers: exercises: 44-47 Concept of contradiction
Student Difficulties
Notes

M1 Class Summary for Jan 22, 2017

Instructor:	Fatima Al-Raisi
Attendance:	AbdulQadir, Suhaib
Homework	Due Feb 12 59,60,62,63 78-86 (inclusive) 95 (systematically),97 Optional: 103-106
Class Activities:	exercises 57, 58, 61, 67-77 Example: #ways a team of two can be created in our group
Concepts	Counting 1. Venn Diagrams Set membership, intersection, union, the universal set In class exercises 57, 58, 61 2. Arrangements Using factorials  In class exercises 67-77 (inclusive) 3. Counting pairs Teams of two example,exercise 88 --------------------------------------------------------------- Continue next class: Start with exercises 89,93,95 Gently introducing a generalization and the concept of combinations nCr -Cards In class exercises 98,102
Student Difficulties
Notes	was unable to finish the chapter, need to spend part of next class on combinations concept

M1 Class Summary for Jan 15, 2017

Class Summary Jan 15, 2017

Instructor: Fatima Al-Raisi

Attendees: Suhaib, Qadir, Eman 

Topics and Concepts: 

Counting:

A. Counting the number of items (numbers) in a list

1-list of numbers

2-starting with 1 or 0

3-with 1 as increment

4-starting with arbitrary numbers and with larger increments

5-including/excluding end points 

Strategies:

* for list of numbers with 1 as increment, convert the list to one that starts from 1 and considering the last number

* add 1 for lists that start from 0

* for general lists: (last - first) / increment + 1

* for more complicated lists some strategies are: split the list (even and odd), or count by exclusion (e.g., how many two digits numbers are divisible by 5? Consider all multiples of 5 until 100, there are 20 of them exclude 5 because it's a one-digit number and 100 because it's a 3-digit number)

B. Counting the number of steps/choice in a multi-step/choice procedure/decision 

1-multiplication rule

2-with or without repetition (introduction, simple examples, did not define combinations nCr)

examples: 

-number of ways Ali can can create outfit combinations from 4 shirts (different colors) and 3 pants 

(different colors)

-number of ways different ice-cream flavor/topping combinations can be made when buying a two-scoop ice-cream with a topping from a place with n flavors and m toppings given that the two scoops have to be different flavors 

-number of ways morning-afternoon-evening activity combinations can be made to create a 3-day camping program from a given list of 3 possible morning activities, 4 possible afternoon activities, and 3 evening activities 

-Question given to students as homework: what if we want each day to be different? Note: define different (two days with the same morning and afternoon activities but different evening activities are still different). To simplify the task, students were asked to find the number of different possible 3-day camping program such that each days is entirely different (all three activities are different).

Notes: as students were copying the list of activities for homework, instructor hinted that they only need to note down the number of activities in each category since they are only required to come up with the total number of options not with the actual program.

C. Counting and geometric concepts 

Examples:

-count the number of students standing (evenly spaced) along each side of a square shape classrooms 

-common (wrong) answer: number of students (assuming divisible by 4) divided by 4

-ideas: note these are discrete objects (not points in a line) --> common mistake of double counting in corners, still need to place 4 more students

-generalizing from square to any regular polygons 

-some students were able to generalize and come up with a rule for any number of students

-teacher refined generalizations by placing constraints on the # students in such examples 

General notes: to engage students

1. ask for their input in creating questions (shirt colors, camping activities, ice cream flavors)

2. ask them to work on paper even though the class is small since verbally answering discourages slower students from working out the problem

3. for more challenging problems they can discuss the answer

4. try to ask for alternative ways to solve the problem and compare answers 

Homework assigned from Ch4 Counting: 7-11, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22

Optional: 16 (read and try)

Class Summary for January 8th, 2017

Instructor:	Uzair Syed
Attendance:	Abdul Qadir, Eman Ansari, Sohaib Hydari
Homework	HOMEWORK DUE ON Januray 15, 2017 NOTEBOOK: 1 - 106 PRACTICE BOOK: Finish all problems in Chapter 4: Counting(Practice 4B)
Class Activities:	Conducted test from the previous session.
Concepts	Counting
Student Difficulties	Overall students did well, figured out the logic. But with a little bit of input from the instructor, they overcame the difficulties while understanding questions.
Notes

Syllabus (tentative)

Overview:
This course develops creative problem solving skills for upper elementary school students. For instance, consider the following math problems:
(i) How many different arrangements of the letters in the word ACADEMY are possible if the two A's must be next to each other? For example, AACDEMY and MYDEAAC are counted, but ACADEMY is not. (Source: Beast Academy)
(ii) A bag contains 10 marbles: 5 red and 5 black. Ali draws all ten marbles out, one at a time. What is the probability that the tenth marble he pulls out matches the color of the first marble? (Source: Beast Academy)
(iii) One bell rings every 4 hours, a second bell rings every 6 hours, and a third bell rings every 10 hours. If all three bells just rang together, how many times in the next 100 hours will exactly two bells ring together (including the 100th hour)? (Source: Beast Academy)

In this course, students will practice solving challenging problems such as the ones listed above.

Location, Dates, Time:
MCCGP 233 Seaman Ln, Monroeville, PA 15146
Jan 8, 2017 to May 14, 2017
Sunday 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Tentative Schedule (may change based on student needs):

A	8-Jan	ADMISSIONS TEST	Test will be based on the content we covered during Fall 2016 from Beast Academy Practice Book 4C and 4D: factors, integers, fractions, and decimals
1	15-Jan	Counting (4B)
2	22-Jan	Counting (4B)
3	29-Jan	Logic (4B)
4	5-Feb	Logic (4B)
5	12-Feb	Probability (4D)
6	19-Feb	Probability (4D)
7	26-Feb	Probability (4D)
B	5-Mar	MID-TERM COMPETITION
8	12-Mar	3D Solids (5A)
9	19-Mar	3D Solids (5A)
10	26-Mar	Integers (5A)
11	2-Apr	Integers (5A)
12	9-Apr	Expressions and Equations (5A)
	16-Apr	NO CLASSES	SPRING BREAK @ FR, Upper St Clair, Plum
13	23-Apr	Expressions and Equations (5A)
14	30-Apr	Factors and Multiples (5B)
15	7-May	Factors and Multiples (5B)
C	14-May	FINAL COMPETITION	AKCMP Spring Term Ends
	21-May	REVIEW / AWARDS	MCCGP End of Term