18.904: The Seminar Format
Undergraduate Mathematics Seminars at MIT
Seminar courses have the following characteristics.
(1) The enrollment is limited to 12. Preference will be given to
mathematics majors. If further discrimination must be made it will
be on the basis of year and prior registration in the same seminar.
(2) A preponderance of the classes are given over to presentations by the
students. As a rule the instructor should not lecture, except perhaps in
rotation. The seminar leader should provide specific feedback and
suggestions for improvement of oral presentations.
(3) There is a single focus subject. Generally speaking the level should
be at an upper class level, with a prerequisite of one specified departmental
subject.
(4) Appropriate homework may be required.
(5) At least one coherent mathematics paper of approximately ten pages will be
required. It must be written in some form of tex. It must be due (and therefore
assigned) early enough in the term to allow at least one revision
(and preferably more).
(6) There are no exams.
(7) An undergraduate seminar course in the Mathematics Department
satisfies the CI-M requirement in Mathematics, which means it is subject
to the following descriptive guideline:
"Subjects in major programs that provide instruction and practice in the
forms of discourse common to the specific discipline. These subjects integrate
substantial instruction and practice in major forms of written, oral and/or
visual communication within the academic or professional discipline along
with one or more opportunities for substantial and supervised revision of
at least one document or presentation. A student's ability to communicate
course material shall constitute a significant portion of a student's overall
grade in the class."
(8) A seminar is a 12 unit class. The grading will be based on :
- Classroom participation, especially the oral presentations.
- Paper or papers.
- Homework. Generally homework should play a supporting role only. It might
be used for example to get clear on some of the mathematics which will be
incorprated into a paper.
- Degree of improvement.
(9) Seminar classes provide one of the best ways for a mathematics major to
get to know a faculty member well enough to ask for a letter of recommendation.
The seminar leader should work to get to know the students well enough to
feel comfortable writing for them, and make this potential know to them.
July 2005