What do you like best about this course?:

Students can make decisions and determine progress of lecture topics. Mostly discussion based.

Pat. He is one of the greatest instructors that Rutgers has. Take any class with him that you can, regardless of your interest in the subject.

The instructor was very engaging and encouraged me to look at the subject in a new perspective.

Nothing. I can literally think of nothing that I enjoyed from this class.

The topics of discussion

I liked the diversity of the subjects we studied and how the instructor was able to make seemingly complicated topics fun and easy to understand.

I loved how passionate Patrick Devlin was about the material and his students' learning. His teaching style was laid-back and enthusiastic, engaging students. I always had fun learning in his class.

I think the difficulty and the material covered in the class were perfect. We got a perfect crash course in "real math." A class like this could get someone who has no interest in math interested enough to study more.

I really enjoyed Pat's ability to vary the depth of this course. I have a pretty strong mathematical background so going in I wasn't expecting to learn a lot. I thought it sounded interesting and it didn't conflict with anything which is why I took it. I was very pleasantly surprised and this class has greatly contributed to making my decision of major concrete. I definitely want to be a math major now.

Pat was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about math, as well as hilarious. He made math fun and interesting, and more than simple equations and number theories!

I appreciated that it was exploratory. Unlike other rigorous math courses, there's less of an emphasis on grading. I was really free to engage in the subject matter, rather than stress about simply passing (as was the case in other math classes I've taken). I also thought the assignments were really creative and I enjoyed working on them.

The professor's energy and optimism made learning math fun.

The way it was taught.

If you were teaching this course, what would you do differently?:

Very little notice was given for some assignments that took a long time. There is no need for a 3 page persuasive essay for this class. There was very little structure to this class.

I would not give as many written assignments. After almost every single class, a reflection of 2-4 pages is assigned. A few less reflections in favor of a few less writing-intensive assignments would've been nice.

I don't think I would do as good of a job.

I would structure this class like a 100 level course should be structured. There was absolutely no need for homework due every class, 2 midterms, a final, and a project. I wouldn't force awful homework assignments on students.

nothing

I would have had a more definite structure in regards to which subjects were covered on which days.

I would try to incorporate more hands-on activities. The times we played with beans and string were when I learned the most.

I think the course could really benefit from cutting down on the number of "reflection"-type responses. They're fine for writing after reading an article on say problems with the common-core, but I think they did more harm than good in many situations. For example, when we learned about infinity and proof by contradiction, it was tedious and frustrating to write several pages on my feelings on these topics. It'd be more interesting to do problems instead. I understand it might be difficult for us to do this with some of the more difficult topics, but perhaps future students could read about really interesting problems related to the topic, or something of that nature. In general, class and the material is really interesting, but there was a point when I felt fed-up with the class in general solely because of these responses.

Perhaps challenge the kids more? I'm not really sure where most people stood in their understanding but I think that more could have been asked. I may be completely wrong though, I'm very bad at understanding others' knowledge.

Nothing

I spent some time trying to come up with some constructive criticism for the course but the workload was fair, his exams were all familiar (it was a variation of what we learned in class), and his teaching style was on point. Pat's doing a great job - that too, on his first time teaching this course. I'd change nothing at all!

Towards finals time is was not necessary to give a final paper when our final project was so time consuming

Not build up the workload so much towards the end of the semester.

In what ways, if any, has this course or the instructor encouraged your intellectual growth and progress?:

Encouraged me by making me appreciate math as more than just in academics, also makes me more interested in probability interestingly.

As stated above, the instructor has made a positive impact on how I view the course material.

It hasn't.

Look at math a different way and think differently about certain problems.

The course introduced me to new mathematical topics and made me consider math from a new perspective.

I have gained a better appreciation for mathematics. I now understand that there is more to math than memorization or equations. Math is like an art.

This course introduced us to "real math" and shows us we can actually be good at it. I would've gone my whole life without knowing this without this course.

As mentioned above, I am definitely pursuing math in the future. My favorite proof came from this class too.

I definitely have a greater appreciation for math as an art, and I am inspire to think about things in the math world that I never have before, honestly because I never thought they had anything to do with man!

I don't know how he does it, but Pat addresses every question. He never made us feel as if a question was irrelevant or unnecessary. Pat has the patience to address questions and the flexibility to do it during class time. On the off chance that he couldn't address a question, he'd think about it and send us an email later in the day. I also learned a lot of other neat math concepts by just going to office hours - he explained very difficult concepts in a very simple way.

I look at math better and I think my paper writing skills have improved as well.

Taught me to look at math in a different, more positive way.

Other comments or suggestions::

Come to class with a plan on what you want to do. The assignments started to become repetitive at one point.

This a 100 level course and we were given the course load of a 300 level course load. Homework assignments were repetitive and boring.I literally learned nothing from the homework. I dreaded each and every hw assignment cause I knew I was just going to have to come up with 3 pages of complete fluff. I still do not understand what we learned in lecture. Pat seems like a great guy but the structure of this course needs serious work.

Angry birds does not a good instructor make

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Pat did an amazing job of breaking down real mathematical concepts so we could understand them without any prior math knowledge. I'm actually amazed at the difficulty of some of the topics, but nothing went over our heads. Pat's an expert when it comes to coming up with examples and analogies to help us understand. He's passionate about what he teaches and is one the most attentive, lively and creative professors I've had.

It was a great class. I would definitely suggest to continue this course.

Great class, sorry you have to teach calc!

Pat is an excellent instructor - he has a passion for what he's studying and I could clearly see that in his teaching style. He genuinely cares for his students' success and is always available for help.