| More examples, more actual exercises doing rather than just theory all the time. A different book - The language is obscure and the examples are confusing, some of them forcing us to take pointlessly long derivatives. | The instructor and his humor.
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| In class, we do not have enough examples, only theory. Because of this rift, it is hard to apply what we learn in class to actual problems, thus making problem sets that much more complicated. | Cool topic
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| I think if we have groups within the class to do the problem worksheet together, we could probably learn faster, without requiring too much help from my CA. The course is great as it is. | The course is very well balanced out: the lecture, classwork and assignments are all reasonable yet challenging enough.
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| i think that we might need more homework problems. i hesitate to say this, because i dont feel like more WORK is better, but maybe more easy problems? i dont feel like i get enough practice applying the material from only five or six problems a nigh | um. i dont understand the question. its math. isnt math just inherently valuable?
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| Exposure to more of the material covered by the homework. | n/r
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| More time in class, or to cover less material so we can do more in-depth examples that pertain more directly to problem sets | I like the Smaller classes and feel like I get personal attention
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| I do not understand the TF. His thick accent and fast pace are hard to keep up with. I have to learn from another source. | Math Question Center is where I make my biggest strides in this class.
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| The homework should focus on standard applications rather than the absolute most complex problems available. The class should be more targetted toward people who have never taken multivariable clac before and less toward those who have. | My TF is very engaging and the material is useful to learn.
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| Pace - the pace is too fast, the TF tries to cover too many topics in one section and does not have time to cover them in more depth. | TF's enthusiasm
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| Because I just switched into the course, I do not feel qualified to answer this question. | From the brief period I have been in the course, the section leader is very enthusiastic about the material and adds some some humor to his class presentations.
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| I think that there is not enough applications to real life situations--be it physics, econ, or any other topic. I think I would appreciate more what I'm learning if I could envision it in the real world. | The available help and problem sets that are diverse and not mechancial/tedious
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| It is very accelerated, but I don't know if this could or should be changed. | The 21 sequence seems like a math course that is a good standard prerequesite for more challenging courses in the sciences.
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| More TF consistency. I feel like my TF doesn't spend enough time explaining relevant topics to the course. Derivation is fine, but some of us want to understand the concepts and methods first before derivation. | The MQC and office hours, though I haven't had the time to take advantage of them because they are usually in conflict with other problem sessions/office hours.
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| Homework problems from the book focus too much on busy number crunching than getting concepts across. | My TF
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| Having more concrete examples in class about problems | it is very interesting and very new to people that have never taken multi variable calculus
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| The textbook is not the easiest book to follow. Often there is material not covered in lecture that appears on the homework, and a clearer text would help with that. | My teaching fellow is by far the greatest attribute the course has. He is engaging and clear in lecture.
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| Better problem sets | skilled TFs
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| Teachers should use more computers in class to show the graphs | The new ideas and concepts we are learning
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| The interesting-ness of the classes. Breaking it into sections is really kind of useless if its still just going to be taught like a big lecture. | I like having many, short problem sets rather than one long problem set. That way, if I'm doing something wrong, I'll find out sooner and the consequences (n terms of my grade) won't be so great.
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| More flexibility with Problem Sets - it's much easier to plan for (and attend office hours before, if need be) a weekly problem set. | My section leader is good!
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| Some problems in homework require hours of computation lines, and rather than accquaint students with concepts, they become computational burdens. | The riguourous pace at which it is taught.
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| The course needs more standardization between the instructors. My section has not covered some things that appear on the homework, and I feel like some others have an advantage now over me on the exams. | The homework is not impossible, and it is very very helpful in understanding the topics. The problem sessions as well. After putting in effort, no student should have a problem with the course material.
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| I find the book somewhat hard to follow and to understand. I do not think it typically does a good job of explaining what is going on. | The Math Question Center is extremely valuable. I love being able to go there and work through problems with other students. I know I learn a ton from this each night.
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| More opportunity for Questions and Answers | The course has (so far) provided a more thorough understanding to 3d identities by means of vector functions. I feel much more confident in dealing with geometry now than I did before.
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| It's difficult to cover everything you need to cover in order to do the problem sets. | It teaches you mathematica.
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| The section doesn't prepare us to do the homework (we need to teach ourselves) and the homework problems are not chosen well--they are long, messy, and difficult to compute, without giving us a solid foundation in the concepts. | The material is fascinating, challenging and exciting.
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| The textbook is terrible; well I suppose it is allright. I much prefer Stewart. Despite the difference in prize (see faqs) it a clearer and more enjoyable book, and worth the difference, if you ask me. It also has significantly better diagrams. Bl | uhhh you learn about vectors, which is generally useful I guess. I wish we'd do more physics applications though... especially when se get to vector calculus. And the HW can honestly be pretty tedious at times...so much calculation.
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| The Problem Sessions could be offered at different times. I always seem to have practice when they are held. It's frustrating because we don't always get to everything in class, and I'd really like to learn it from a person rather than a book. | I feel that math is always a valuable tool to have in life. This course is teaching me to think outside of the box.
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| I don't think I have anything to say about improving the course specifically, but I do think that it moves a little bit too fast. | I think it's very valuable that the course has so many resources for help--ie: MQC, office hours, and so on.
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| The amount of tedious algebra in the homeworks. It does not test the knowledge gained in this class and merely generates frustration. If we're in Math 21a, we clearly have mastered basic algebra and trig. | The interesting material covered- I love the topics! The homework is interesting and helpful- until I reach the annoying algebra parts.
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| We are in too much of a rush all the time. I wish the lessons could move just a little bit slower, and that the stuff done in lecture would better correspond to the homework. At the moment we are just proving the formulae in class, but we don't real | We are learning very interesting and valuable material which is essential for my further studies of math and the sciences.
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| Section leaders need to be better. My TF's lectures consist only of reading notes on the chapter, and he can't explain the concepts at all. Half the class has stopped coming; our attempts to switch sections are met with hostility and rage. | Usefulness in its applications to other subjects.
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| The TF who teaches my section is really pretty awful. He obviously does not have any interest in teaching us this material or in attempting to make it interesting to us. | Learning to think spatially.
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| It would be helpful to have more examples in class, but I do realize that there is a lot of material to cover. | Learning to think in 3-dimensional space---it's surprisingly different than thinking in 2-dimensional space.
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| The classes are too rushed - the TFs barely have enough time to go through the material, much less explain it thoroughly or take many questions. | Mathematica!
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| I think concepts need to be taught perhaps a bit slower, and more examples need to be done in class, so that when one does the homework, one is not lost as to what to do. | Its math, and math is valuable.
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| The homework seems to digress a bit from what we do in class, so the homework involves reading the chapter again to learn what we need to do the homework. | It's much more applications based than the theoretical math classes.
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| I would recommend increasing the difficulty of the homework problems to better prepare us for exams that may require great depth of thought about the concepts we are learning. | I am being taught multivariable calculus in clear, fairly visual terms; the material thus appears to bridge the gap between calculation and theory, and I like that very much. Plus, my TF is extremely dedicated and enthusiastic!
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| The homework requires too much busy work and too little thought. | In terms of practical applications, there is very little that seems valuable, but on a purely intellectual level I think this course is valuable because it applies knowledge of calculus to more complicated mathematics.
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| More time spent emphasizing understanding as opposed to brute manipulation and ridiculous amounts of algebra which cloud the actual concepts. | Reasonable length of problem sets, though with caveat noted above.
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| A better textbook in which the problems asked have less to do with really tedious algebra and more on the topics being questioned. | The fact that the course is mathematics, which in general I think is very valuable because it is much more stimulating for the brain.
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| The lectures could be made more interesting, and I REALLY wish that the textbook was on reserve at Cabot, since it is only necessary for the problems. | The knowledge of new mathematical processes is essential
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| Explanation on how to do problem sets and apply concepts we learn in class. | Frequent practice through problem sets (though these are inadequately explained).
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| learning topics in class before doing them in the homework. | applying math to cow-tipping, watching kung fu fighting cows, running across room to demonstrate acceleration, contests for free DVD's---the professor's sense of humor.
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| I think the class should focus more on solutions to typical questions.I think it's better if students could feel clear about how to solve questions after each class,instead of having to read through the textbook by themselves. | I really like the teaching style of My section leader.Beside the specific knowledge itself,I can see the mathematic thought in his teacher.He also lets me know the beauty of multivariable calculous.
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| going over important concepts more- sometimes we have not even learned what is necessary to do a homework problem | n/r
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| I think it wouldn't hurt the course to do more example problems in class. Problems that are more challenging than just basic applications. These problems will help with doing the challenging problems in the homework. | My teaching fellow is a really good teacher. That's the most important thing for a course.
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| Less tedious problem set questions that ask for the computation of a messy double derivative. Maybe more proofs and conceptual questions? | The topics are well-organized and structured!
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| I think that TFs need to spend more time in class showing how to apply formulas in difficult situations as oppose to proving where the formulas come from. In an ideal world, they would be able to do both. However, since section is only an hour long, | Office hours, the Math Question Center, and Problem Sessions.
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| the connection between lectures and the homework | the various applications of the subject/material
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| Seems like the instructor is rushing to teach a certain amount of curriculum, therefore doesn't have time to slow down and explain away confusion and do examples. | Small classes and the help of the math question center
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| Sometimes, the homework questions are not well selected and presuppose knowledge that is beyond the scope of the course (like the torque question which required some familiarity with the physics concept of acceleration due to gravity). | The content of the course is useful for fields like economics and statistics.
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| some of the psets require very time-consuming computations (e.g. crazy differentiation), which puts emphasis on brute force rather than conceptual understanding | our very enthusiastic, very caring section leader
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| Quality of instruction. My section leader never uses graphs or explains concepts so they can be understood spatially and intuitively. He doesn't give examples or explain why formulas are the way they are. | The concepts covered are definitely important ones.
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