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Prealgebra and Introductory Algebra with P.O.W.E.R. Learning
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Sherri Messersmith’s successful hardcover franchise is expanded with the new softcover P.O.W.E.R. series. The conversational writing style, practical applications, innovative student resources and student friendly walk through of examples that users of the hard cover books noted and appreciated are also found in the pages of Intermediate Algebra with P.O.W.E.R. Learning and the rest of the series.
The P.O.W.E.R. Framework
What makes P.O.W.E.R. a unique tool for the classroom? A major challenge in developmental courses is that students at this level struggle with basic study skills and habits. Maybe this is one of their first college courses or perhaps they are adults returning to school after a long absence. Either way, many of the individuals taking this course don’t know how to be good students. Instructors often don’t have the time, the resources or the expertise to teach success skills AND the math concepts. The new team of Messersmith, Perez and Feldman offer a scientifically based approach to meet this challenge. The P.O.W.E.R. Learning Framework was developed by successful author, psychologist, student success instructor and researcher, Bob Feldman. It is a method of accomplishing any task using five simple and consistent steps. Prepare. Organize. Work. Evaluate. Rethink. This framework is integrated at every level of the text to help students successfully learn math concepts while at the same time developing habits that will serve them well throughout their college careers and in their daily lives.
The Math
Making Connections – Sherri Messersmith is recognized for preparing her students for success by refreshing their knowledge of arithmetic. By helping students see the connection between arithmetic and algebra, Sherri found that her students were more confident in their abilities as they progressed through the course. This classroom tested practice was integrated into the texts so that both instructors and students could benefit. Messersmith accomplishes this by including arithmetic examples for most sections before the use of algebraic examples. Also, the author has developed through classroom use a series of Basic Skills Worksheets that can easily be integrated into the classroom.
Presenting Concepts in “Bite Size” Pieces – By breaking down the sections into manageable pieces, the author has identified the core places where students traditionally struggle and then assists them in understanding that material to be successful moving forward. For details on how the author has done this, check out the TOCs for Intro Algebra, PreAlgebra, Intermediate Algebra and the combo book PreAlgebra and Introductory Algebra.
Mastering Concepts--With the textbook and Connect Math hosted by ALEKS, students can practice and master their understanding of algebraic concepts. Messersmith is rigorous enough to prepare students for the next level yet easy to read and understand. The exposition is written as if a professor is teaching in a lecture to be more accessible to students. The language is mathematically sound yet easy enough for students to understand.
All Features
P.O.W.E.R. is a method for accomplishing any task based on five basic steps. Prepare. Organize. Work. Evaluate. Rethink. It is integrated at the section level in the Messersmith paperback series to guide students through learning math concepts. The P.O.W.E.R. framework was developed by Dr. Robert Feldman and integrated into his first year experience/student success books, POWER Learning: Strategies for Success in College and Life and POWER Learning and Your Life: Essentials of Student Success. The framework has also been integrated into Dr. Feldman’s Psychology and Your Life text and is the basis for the student success program at UMass at Amherst where he is Dean.
Connect Math hosted by ALEKS is the combination of an online homework manager with an artificial-intelligent, diagnostic assessment. Each homework problem is consistent with the problem included in the text and was hand-picked by instructors and subject matter experts. Instructors will have a platform that was designed through a comprehensive market development process involving full-time and adjunct math faculty to better meet their needs. -Instructors can deliver assignments, quizzes, and tests easily online -Students have 24/7 online access to an integrated, media-rich eBook -Online study assets are specifically tied to the textbook.
Worksheets fall into three categories: review worksheets/basic skills, worksheets that teach new content, and worksheets to reinforce/pull together different concepts. These worksheets are a great way to both enhance instruction and to give students more tools to be successful in studying a given topic. They are ready-made materials for instructors! Perfect for adjuncts! Especially those who teach at more than one school and don’t have time to create tools for their classes. The worksheets help to standardize the level at which the course is taught. To help adjuncts keep pace with full-time instructors. *Available in Connect hosted by ALEKS and ALEKS.
Prealgebra and Introductory Algebra with POWER Learning
Messersmith/Perez/Feldman
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Operations with Integers
1.1 Place Value and Rounding
1.2 Introduction to Integers
1.3 Adding Integers
1.4 Subtracting Integers
1.5 Estimating a Sum or a Difference
1.6 Multiplying Integers and Estimation
1.7 Dividing Integers and Estimation PIAT
1.8 Exponents and Order of Operations
Chapter 2 Variables and Solving Equations
2.1 Introduction to Variables
2.2 Simplifying Expressions
2.3 Solving Equations Using the Addition Property of Equality
2.4 Solving Equations Using the Division Property of Equality
2.5 More on Solving Equations
2.6 Applications Involving One Unknown
2.7 Applications Involving Two Unknowns
Chapter 3 Operations with Signed Fractions
3.1 Introduction to Signed Fractions
3.2 Writing Fractions in Lowest Terms
3.3 Multiplying and Dividing Signed Fractions
3.4 Adding and Subtracting Like Fractions and Finding a Least Common Denominator
3.5 Adding and Subtracting Unlike Fractions
3.6 Operations with Mixed Numbers PIAT
3.7 Order Relations and Order of Operations
3.8 Solving Equations Containing Fractions
Chapter 4 Basic Geometry Concepts
4.1 Introduction to Geometry
4.2 Rectangles, Squares, Parallelograms, and Trapezoids
4.3 Triangles
4.4 Volume and Surface Area PIAT
4.5 Solving Geometry Applications Using Algebra
Chapter 5 Signed Decimals
5.1 Reading and Writing Decimals
5.2 Rounding Decimals
5.3 Adding and Subtracting Signed Decimals
5.4 Multiplying Signed Decimals
5.5 Dividing Signed Decimals and Order of Operations PIAT
5.6 Writing Fractions as Decimals
5.7 Mean, Median, and Mode
5.8 Solving Equations Containing Decimals
5.9 Square Roots and the Pythagorean Theorem
5.1 Circles, Spheres, Cylinders, and Cones
Chapter 6 Ratios and Proportions
6.1 Ratios
6.2 Rates
6.3 Proportions
6.4 Solve Applied Problems Involving Proportions
6.5 Angles
6.6 Solve Applied Problems Involving Congruent and Similar Triangles
Chapter 7 Measurement and Conversion
7.1 Conversions Within the U.S. Measurement System
7.2 The Metric System: Length
7.3 The Metric System: Capacity and Weight (Mass)
7.4 Solving Applied Problems Involving Metric Units
7.5 Metric - U.S. Customary Conversions and Temperature
Chapter 8 Percents
8.1 Percents, Fractions, and Decimals
8.2 Compute Basic Percents Mentally
8.3 Use an Equation to Solve Percent Problems
8.4 Solve Applications Involving Percents PIAT
8.5 More Applications with Percents
8.6 Simple and Compound Interest
Chapter 9 Graphs
9.1 Reading Tables, Pictographs, Bar Graphs, and Line Graphs
9.2 Frequency Distributions and Histograms
9.3 Using and Making Circle Graphs
Cumulative Review for Chapters 1-9
Chapter 10 Real Numbers, Equations, and Inequalities
10.1 Real Numbers
10.2 More on Solving Linear Equations
10.3 Formulas and Solving for a Specific Variable
10.4 Solving Linear Inequalities in One Variable
Chapter 11 Linear Equations in Two Variables
11.1 Introduction to Linear Equations in Two Variables
11.2 Graphing by Plotting Points and Finding Intercepts
11.3 The Slope of a Line
11.4 The Slope-Intercept Form of a Line
11.5 Writing an Equation of a Line
Chapter 12 Solving Systems of Linear Equations
12.1 Solving Systems by Graphing
12.2 Solving Systems by Substitution
12.3 Solving Systems by the Elimination Method PIAT
12.4 Applications of Systems of Equations
12.5 Linear Inequalities in Two Variables
Chapter 13 The Rules of Exponents and Polynomials
13.1 The Product Rule and Power Rules
13.2 Integer Exponents
13.3 The Quotient Rule PIAT
13.4 Scientific Notation
13.5 Addition and Subtraction of Polynomials
13.6 Multiplication of Polynomials
13.7 Dividing a Polynomial by a Monomial
13.8 Dividing a Polynomial by a Polynomial
Chapter 14 Factoring Polynomials
14.1 The Greatest Common Factor and Factoring by Grouping
14.2 Factoring Trinomials of the Form x^2 + bx + c
14.3 Factoring Trinomials of the Form ax^2 + bx + c (a not 1)
14.4 Factoring Special Trinomials and Binomials PIAT
14.5 Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring
14.6 Applications of Quadratic Equations
Chapter 15 Rational Expressions
15.1 Simplifying Rational Expressions
15.2 Multiplying and Dividing Rational Expressions
15.3 Finding the Least Common Denominator
15.4 Adding and Subtracting Rational Expressions PIAT
15.5 Simplifying Complex Fractions
15.6 Solving Rational Equations
15.7 Applications of Rational Equations and Variation
Chapter 16 Roots and Radicals
16.1 Finding Roots
16.2 Simplifying Radicals: The Product and Quotient Rules
16.3 Adding and Subtracting Radicals
16.4 Combining Operations on Radicals
16.5 Dividing Radicals
16.6 Solving Radical Equations
Chapter 17 Quadratic Equations
17.1 Solving Quadratic Equations Using the Square Root Property
17.2 Solving Quadratic Equations by Completing the Square
17.3 Solving Quadratic Equations Using the Quadratic Formula PIAT
17.4 Graphs of Quadratic Equations
17.5 Introduction to Functions
Appendix
A.1 Adding Whole Numbers
A.2 Subtracting Whole Numbers
A.3 Multiplying Whole Numbers
A.4 Introduction to Division and Short Division
A.5 Long Division
B.1 Sets of Numbers
B.2 Graphing Inequalities
B.3 Deriving the Area of a Parallelogram and the Area of a Trapezoid
B.4 Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
About the Author
Sherri Messersmith
Sherri Messersmith has been teaching at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, since 1994. She has over 25 years of experience teaching many different courses from developmental mathematics through calculus. She earned a bachelor of science degree in the teaching of mathematics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and went on to teach at the high level for two years. Sherri returned to UIUC and earned a master of science in applied mathematics and stayed on at the university to teach and coordinate large sections of undergraduate math courses. Sherri has authored several textbook, and she has also appeared in videos accompanying several McGraw-Hill texts. Sherri lives outside of Chicago with her husband, Phil, and their daughters, Alex and Cailen. In her precious free time, she likes to read, play the guitar, and travel -- the manuscripts for this and her previous books have accompanied her from Spain to Greece and many points in between.
Lawrence Perez
Robert Feldman
Bob Feldman still remembers those moments of being overwhelmed when he started college at Wesleyan University. “I wondered whether I was up to the challenges that faced me,” he recalls, “and—although I never would have admitted it at the time—I really had no idea what it took to be successful at college.”
That experience, along with his encounters with many students during his own teaching career, led to a life-long interest in helping students navigate the critical transition that they face at the start of their own college careers. Professor Feldman, who went on to receive a doctorate in psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, is now Deputy Chancellor and Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is founding director of POWER Up for Student Success, the first-year experience course for incoming students.
Professor Feldman’s proudest professional accomplishment is winning the College Outstanding Teaching Award at UMass. He also has been named a Hewlett Teaching Fellow and was Senior Online Instruction Fellow. He has taught courses at Mount Holyoke College, Wesleyan University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. Professor Feldman is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a winner of a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer award and has written over 200 scientific articles, book chapters, and books. His books, some of which have been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese, include Improving the First Year of College: Research and Practice; Understanding Psychology, 12/e; and Development Across the Life Span, 7/e. His research interests encompass the study of honesty and truthfulness in everyday life, development of nonverbal behavior in children, and the social psychology of education. His research has been supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Disabilities and Rehabilitation Research.
With the last of his three children completing college, Professor Feldman occupies his spare time with pretty decent cooking and earnest, but admittedly unpolished, piano playing. He also loves to travel. He lives with his wife, who is an educational psychologist, in a home overlooking the Holyoke mountain range in western Massachusetts.
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