Pete Sherman
7/12/16
Maj. Garriott
ERH 101-03
Delving into the Discourse of Mathematics and Computer Science
“MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE: EXPLORING A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP” is a journal by Bravaco, Ralph and Simonson, Shai for Mathematics and Computer Education. This journal was done as a research study to explore a relationship between people who were “sophomore computer science major who are simultaneously studying discrete mathematics” (Bravaco and Simonson). The study was done at Stonehill College as a report by professors for the Department of Computer Science. The paper looks into “learning communities” between the students with disciplines in Computer Science and Mathematics who are taking Discrete Mathematics, Data Structures and an Integrative Seminar/Lab (Bravaco and Simonson). Most of this explorative research study is based around the idea of “learning communities” which have become a main part of the Colleges Gen. Ed. Curriculum (Bravaco and Simonson). The direct definition from Stonehill College is “Any one of a variety of curricular structures that link together several existing courses – or restructures the material entirely – so that students have opportunities for deeper understanding and integration of the material they are learning.” (Bravaco and Simonson). At the college all sophomores are to enroll in a “learning community” which consists of three courses, two of them being from different specific disciplines and a third which acts as a link to that is used to connect the two courses/disciplines. (Bravaco and Simonson). One thing to note is that the authors did not compare computer science to something closer to its field. Bravado and Simonson are able to connect different affiliations of different studies to create multiple discourse communities that work together as one.
This paper consists of around 10 different headers/sub-headers describing the information that is given. The authors’ start out by introducing the abstract idea of what they would be talking about which was as from the title, the symbiotic relationship between mathematics and computer science. It also starts by introducing the idea of the “learning community” as defined previously relative to a sophomore who was taking both computer science and mathematics. The paper then goes on to outline what the two courses that the sophomores would be taking, Discrete Mathematics, and Data Structures and how they were put together along with a seminar to create this “learning community.” After linking the two courses that make up part of the “learning community,” the authors then go on to describe the basic structure of the integrated seminar and giving an in-depth description of each of the seminars and what is covered in each. This part of the paper makes it seem like it was written as an expert-to-expert type situation. The end of the paper gives written “anonymous evaluations of the learning community” (Bravaco and Simonson). The authors then give an appendix of the labs that are/would be given during the seminars that would be required for a student part of the CS, Mathematics “learning community” to take.
The “learning community” that has been talked about so far is similar to a discourse community, as it is a group of people with a specific focus, share a common field or aspect, and share common goals. The community described in the paper follows Gees’ Theory about a Discourse Community. Gee’s Theory about a Discourse Community is “a combination of five factors: saying, doing, being, valuing, and believing” (A). In addition, the paper shows how there is also a secondary discourse, which appears with the computer science majors who are additionally learning discrete mathematics as a secondary. In the paper by Bravaco and Simonson, you see that each of these factors is met in some way, shape, or form. In addition, the paper touches on Rhetoric Theory and implements ideas such as Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. In this paper, I will evaluate how Bravaco and Simonson use the idea of a “learning community” and support that it is essentially the same thing as a discourse community and that they incorporated the ideas of Rhetoric Theory.
The primary discourse relative to a discourse community, in Mathematics and Computer Science: Exploring a Symbiotic Relationship, would be the students’ part of the “’learning community’ designed for sophomore computer science majors who are simultaneously studying discrete mathematics” (Bravaco and Simonson). There are five factors that make up a discourse community according to James Paul Gee. These are saying, doing, being, valuing, and believing (A). Saying is the language that the discourse community speaks as a group and for computer scientists; the language they speak is in code. Everything is written in code and everything can be done with code. Computer scientists “job” in life is to get things running easily so that others don’t have to struggle to fix the problems or to create systems of lines that work together to protect something of importance. They are “doing” all the “dirty” work that goes into the process and steps of making software work. In terms of being, a computer scientist must be tech savvy and are generally the people that you don’t hear about because companies or bosses don’t want the outside to know who or what is going on “behind the scenes.” In addition, computer scientists are known to be tech support, or the guys who sit around waiting to have someone call them up and ask them for technical support or to physically troubleshoot technical problems. Computer scientists value flawless work that successfully achieves the task it was assigned. If a program or set of lines of code does not work, the work is not worth anything and there is nothing to value, so to be able to value something a computer scientist does, they have to make a perfect set of codes that do their job and have no errors that show up or compromise the program. “Seeing is believing,” and when one computer scientist sees another succeed, it gives them motivation to finish or even go even deeper in the subject. Computer scientists believe that a good set of codes can go a long way.
Rhetoric theory is comprised of three main parts, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is the credibility of an author and the way that such author come off as a person so that the reader is55 to believe in their thesis or paper. Since there are two authors to the journal, it is harder to tell which author has the better ethos, however when you look at it, you can see that both authors are credible and good writers as throughout the journal both show profound knowledge of the subject even though the program they were writing about was not yet utilized at Stonehill, but was being brought up to the higher ups as a recommendation for a new “learning community. In addition, Ralph Bravaco is the department head of Computer Science at Stonehill College and as he has received the Louise F. Hegarty Award for Excellence in Teachings, grants for the National Science Foundation and authored with Shai Simonson, Java Programming, From the Ground Up, which had been published by McGraw-Hill in January of 2009 (R. J. Bravaco).
Pathos is the use of language to get the reader enticed in what they are reading so that they become interested in the paper and continue on reading. Bravaco and Simonson are able to write in such a way that you, the reader, become intrigued in what they are saying and become interested in what else they have to say. There is not true reference of where they do this, but the way the paper flows, helps create a sense that makes it easier to keep on reading what they are saying.
Finally, Logos, the push towards reason and logic towards a well built argument or statement. Throughout the journal that is offering up a new “learning community” at Stonehill College, both Bravaco and Simonson are able to “clean the edges” of their arguments and reasoning’s for wanting to create a “learning community” that is for sophomores who are computer science majors and are taking in addition discrete mathematics.
Works Cited
A, Julian. ames Paul Gee’s Theory about Discourse Community. 29 11 2012. 15 7 2016 <https://julianamunozhenaoucf.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/james-paul-gees-theory-about-discourse-community/>.
Bravaco, Ralph and Shai Simonson. MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE: EXPLORING A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP. Easton: Stonehill College, 2004.
Bravaco, Ralph J. Ralph J. Bravaco. 21 9 2015. 15 7 2016 <http://www.stonehill.edu/directory/ralph-bravaco/>.