Commentary
Campus
Poll:
What are
you doing
over
Spring
Break?
“Looking
for a job
and work
ing con
struction.”
Branwin Jones
Justin Munsui
TH just be
tome with
my son.”
Dustin Ragsdale
The Clackamas Print
MyMathLab is one of the
CourseCompass online home
work programs now being used in
some departments at Clackamas.
Students are encountering more
headache than anticipated when
signing up for math classes with
MyMathLab, but the challenge is
not the math itself.
Mathematics and computers
have a longstanding rivalry for
the king of nerdy pursuits, dating
back more than 50 years, when
the concept of computation first
began its division into two
very different sciences.
Since the fateful time of
silicon valleys and solar-
powered dreams, math
and Computer Science
have cemented their dif
ferences, while stimulat
ing each other’s growth.
A perfect example of the
loving (sometimes grudg
ingly) relationship and (usually)
peaceful coexistence between this
parent and child of the sciences
can be found in Streeter Hall.
Just take a look at a floor plan
of Streeter Hall and the Streeter
Hall Annex buildings. From
above, it appears that the CS
Department is trying to escape
the Math Department’s clutches
by making a b-line down the hall,
around the comer, through the
Annex and off to open fields of
corrective lens liberty and pocket
protector prosperity.
However, die CS Department’s
roots are firmly planted in Streeter
Hall, surrounded by mathematics.
Zoom-in closer on the image of
Streeter, and one sees the fulcrum
of this balance. Streeter Academic
II
Chris Hoeflner
“I’m just
going on
a trip to
Seattle.”
leiko Yokoyama
Campus Poll compiled by
Jermesa Palmer and
Megan Koler
he
■
■
Computing Labs hosts the new
est incarnation of the calculating-
qpmputer love/hate relationship.
On the screens of computers in
Streeter, students are encountering
their latest struggle with the re
acquaintance of mathematics and
PCs.
“Figuring
out
how
[CourseCompass] wants the
answer is 99 percent of the game
with MyMathLab. You can know
the material and not put your
answer ‘right.’ Then, you have
to do a second problem, and it
takes at least twice as long,” said
Chris Hill, an Education Major
now enrolled in Algebra I.
“I
find
myself spend
ing more time
with students
explaining the
program than
the math. The
most common
question with
MyMathLab is ‘How
do I answer this?’ I’d
say it’s more than 50
percent of the com
mon questions,” said CCC
Math Tutor Theodore Bieber, who
is enrolled in Statistics II.
According to Math Department
Chair Kurt Lewendowski, this is
an old battle for math educators.
The science of mathematics is
being challenged to present itself
as stand-alone information with
out the aid of a math guru to
explain the material; thus the idea
behind MyMathLab. This has
never been an easy undertaking,
though; teaching the highly tech
nical science of math in a way that
can be easily understood without
an expert around can seem near
impossible, like trying to teach
someone to sing without opening
your mouth.
How to survive taxes
I
Trobably
working.”
Andrea Simpson
The Clackamas Print
Forty-eight days until what is
perhaps the most dreaded day of
the year April 17. Tax day. Tax day
falls on the 17th this year because
April 15 is a Sunday and the 16th
is a national holiday in Washington
D.C.
Everyone with an income fears
this day more than they fear con
tracting the plague and bird flu com
bined. Fear not taxpayers; no need to
fret, because this tax season, you too
can breeze through with no prob
lems.
There are several different ways
to file taxes.
The Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) offers those who qualify the
option of filing taxes electronically
for free.
To find out if you qualify, go to
http://www.irs.gov/. The forms can
also be found online, to be printed,
filled out and mailed in.
I highly recommend that if any
problems arise and you want to con
tact the IRS, do not wait until April
16 to call You will most likely not
C o -E dttors - in -C hief . Sam Krause,
Katie Wilson
19600 S. Molalla Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
(503) 657-6958 ex. 2309
C opy E ditor : Colleen Watkins
N ews E ditor : Megan Koler
C o -C ommentary E ditors : Matt Olson,
David Stark
F eature E ditor : Laura Cameron
S ports E ditor : Mike Guidice
A&E E ditor : Tayo Stalnaker
P hoto E ditor : Adam J. Manley
Despite the great challenge impossible when they are scat
involved, more “MyMathLab tered throughout the computer lab
success stories” are being related next door.
back to instructors every term.
If .a student does manage to
Many younger students and others get a tutor after having to get up,
already comfortable with PC-use securing their belongings, leaving
have learned the MyMathLab pro the area, finding the right type of
gram quickly.
tutor (good luck finding one who
“With regular homework, if you isn’t already helping people in
don’t understand the problem, you the Math Lab) and bringing them
have the opportunity to skip it and back into the computer lab, then
move on. But with MyMathLab, if they have just removed a tutor
you don’t understand a problem, it from the Math Lab - usually for
gives you plenty of examples and several minutes.
takes you through step-by-step,”
Now, instead of being able to
said Jessica Maurier, who is an coordinate a few students’ ques
Early Childhood Education major tions into some sort of rotation,
enrolled in Algebra I.
that tutor is lucky if they can so
“I will say the premise is
much as see, let alone help
good, but the execution is
more than one math
tough,” said
student at once.
Christine
After hear
Campanella,
ing the sug
anEducation
gestion
of
Major
and
computers in
CCC Math Tutor
the Math Lab,
now enrolled in
Lewendowski
Differential Equations.
gave an optimis
In light of the fact
tic response. It
that students seem to be
appears that the
having more difficulty
idea will soon be
with the comput
discussed
Illustrations by Kayla Berge Clackamas Print
er side of their
as another
math homework, shouldn’t there possible way to help students make
be computers in the Math Lab? the transition from the dead-tree-
All students pay lab fees to have edition-addition of last century to
the aid of the Math Lab and math the computer-calculation-curricu
tutors available to them when they lum of contemporary times.
register for math classes. One
CourseCompass is also con
would think that since the new stantly updating their services in
system of homework involves order to stay competitive. There
computers, that the Math Lab is good news for math students in
should have computers inside of Spring Term: by the time classes
it, not next to it.
begin, MyMathLab will be updat
Currently, students can either ed to a newer, more user-friendly
do their homework with tutors version with the exact same con
and without computéis, or with tent as’that found in textbooks.
computers and without the math
“Students are catching on
tutors. As well, math tutors have to the idea. They are figuring
to keep an eye out for students [MyMathLab] out; it just takes
with questions, which is flat-out time,” said Bieber.
on
get through, and if you do,
you will encounter a grumpy,
harassed, overworked IRS agent and
very little will be accomplished.
Another option is to buy g»
a tax service in a box.
These claim that they
help you save more
by seeking out tax
deductions that you
may not have known
you qualify for.
There are many dif
ferent brands, including
Turbo Tax and H&R
Block User reviews
vary on these ser
vices. H&R Block
Taxcut
Basic
received rave
reviews for its
easy-to-use ques-
tion-and-answer for
mat and the fact that
it’s a free download. It
received a user rating of five
out of five stars.
Turbo Tax is a program you have
to pay for, but one that users claim
will give you a larger tax return than
H&R Block. However, users claim
that it puts limitations on e-filing
Clackamas Print
The Clackamas Print is a weekly
student publication and is
distributed every Wednesday except
finals week.
3
MyMathLab: complicated
Jeannie Scantling
John Schmidt
Clackamas Print
Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007
A d M anager : Elizabeth Hitz
S taff W riters : Nicholas Baker,
APRIL«
your taxes.
The last option is to just hire
a professional to do your taxes for
you. Save all your receipts, and keep
track of all your expenses and poten
tial deductions. This is the easiest,
most painless and number one way
to survive doing taxes. The cost is
different tor every tax
company, but all are fairly
reasonable.
Taxes don’t have to cause you a
headache if you start early and get
professional help. So sit back, relax
and watch others scramble to not be
caught in the crossfire of the IRS.
Gillette, Andrea Simpson,
Alexandria Vallelunga, Jamie Wu
P hotographers : Juno Dean,
Brandy-Marie Faulhaber
G oals : The Clackamas Print aims
to report the news in an honest,
unbiased, professional manner.
The opinions expressed do not
necessarily reflect those of the stu
dent body college administration,
its faculty or The Print. E-mail
comments to chiefed@dackamas.
edu.
Kayla Berge, Benjamin Caldwell,
Leia Dickerson, Jennifer Jenkins,
Frank Jordan, Kimberly Maier,
Jennesa Palmer, Dustin Ragsdale, D epartment A dviser : Linda Vogt
Andrea Simpson, Ott Tammik, Liz
Travers
D epartment S ecretary : Christine
P roduction A ssistants : Jesse
Frey
Dees, Joseph Elliot, Rachel