Digital Commons Network^™

An Introduction To Calling Bullshit: Learning To Think Outside The Black Box, Jevin D. West, Carl T. Bergstrom

Numeracy

Bergstrom, Carl T. and Jevin D. West. 2020. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. (New York: Random House) 336 pp. ISBN 978-0525509202.

While statistical methods receive greater attention, the art of critically evaluating information in everyday life more commonly depends on thinking outside the black box of the algorithm. In this piece we introduce readers to our book and associated online teaching materials—for readers who want to more capably call “bullshit” or to teach their students to do the same.

Art, Artfulness, Or Artifice?: A Review Of The Art Of Statistics: How To Learn From Data, By David Spiegelhalter, Jason Makansi

Numeracy

David Spiegelhalter. 2019. The Art of Statistics: How to Learn From Data. (London: The Penguin Group). 444 pp. ISBN 978-1541618510

The author successfully eases the reader away from the rigor of statistical methods and calculations and into the realm of statistical thinking. Despite an engaging style and attention-grabbing examples, the reader of The Art of Statistics will need more than a casual grounding in statistics to get what Spiegelhalter, I believe, intends from his book. It should be viewed as a companion to a more rigorous textbook on statistical methods but not necessarily a book that makes statistics any …

Review Of Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World—And Why Things Are Better Than You Think, By Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, And Ola Rosling., Richard L. Goerwitz Iii

Numeracy

Hans Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, and Ola Rosling. 2018. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. (New York, NY: Flatiron Books). 352 pp. ISBN 978-1250107817. Also available in audio and e-book formats.

Rosling et al.’s Factfulness is built around a thirteen-question public-health, environment, and population survey that nobody scores well on, not even people who should know better (for example, academics, politicians, diplomats, and business leaders): We all utterly fail to appreciate key ways in which the earth is steadily becoming a better place for people to live. Despite its title, and …

Taking Multiple Regression Analysis To Task: A Review Of Mindware: Tools For Smart Thinking, By Richard Nisbett (2015), Jason Makansi

Numeracy

Richard Nisbett. 2015. Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking.(New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux). 336 pp. ISBN: 9780374536244

Nisbett, a psychologist, may not achieve his stated goal of teaching readers to “effortlessly” extend their common sense when it comes to quantitative analysis applied to everyday issues, but his critique of multiple regression analysis (MRA) in the middle chapters of Mindware is worth attention from, and contemplation by, the QL/QR and Numeracy community. While in at least one other source, Nisbett’s critique has been called a “crusade” against MRA, what he really advocates is that it not be used as …

Decisions, Decisions: Review Of Mindware: Tools For Smart Thinking By Richard E. Nisbett, Anne Kelly

Numeracy

Richard Nisbett. 2015. Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking. (New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux). 336 pp. ISBN: 9780374536244.

Social psychologist Richard E. Nisbett provides help in identifying and overcoming faulty cognitive strategies and replacing them with more accurate heuristics. To do so, Nisbett draws from statistics, correlation, experiments, differences in Western and Eastern thought, and, especially, social influence.

How Do We Change Statistical And Critical Thinking Attitudes In Young People?, Rhys C. Jones

Numeracy

A quasi-experimental design was used to measure the impacts on student attitudes in statistics, mathematics and critical thinking (16-18 years of age) on a group of students who received a 21-week-long contextualised statistics course (called the Pilot Scheme in Social Analytics), in South Wales. This paper will discuss the development and delivery stages of the course as well as the student recruitment strategies employed. This paper will also discuss the changes in attitudes observed after the course had finished. Results suggest the course did lead to changes in the students’ attitudes becoming more positive with respect to statistics, mathematics, and …

Quantitative Literacy And Civic Virtue, William Briggs

Numeracy

Mathematics educators are occasionally called upon to justify the existence or the offering of quantitative literacy courses. This paper argues that effective quantitative literacy courses have different goals than algebra courses and are legitimate alternatives to algebra courses for non-STEM students. Furthermore, quantitative literacy courses affirm the historic relationship between citizenship and education. In today’s world of proliferating news sources, social media, and fake news, quantitative literacy has become an essential component of the long-held ideal of civic virtue.

Assessing Numeracy In The Upper Elementary And Middle School Years, Carol Ann Gittens

Numeracy

Numeracy is the ability or tendency to reason critically about quantitative information. The preponderance of published research on numeracy examines this construct among either pre-K or early elementary samples, students with developmental challenges, or is focused on post-secondary and adult cohorts. The numeracy skills of upper-elementary and middle school students is less documented and understood, most notably because of the lack of valid instruments that are developmentally appropriate for the age range. A numeracy scale for use among upper-elementary and middle school students is introduced in this paper. Scale validation was performed using a gender-balanced, racially / ethnically diverse sample …

A Sampling Of Popular Books For Numeracy Readers, Michael T. Catalano

Numeracy

Popular books on quantitative themes are seemingly more available than ever. In this book review, we look at five such books from a wide range of authors. Although the books are written for diverse audiences, all provide examples and discussion of concepts that could be used in courses with quantitative literacy objectives. The books are Guesstimation and Guesstimation 2.0 by Lawrence Weinstein and John A. Adam, and Weinstein, respectively; Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving, by Jonathan G. Koomey; How to Measure Anything: Finding The Value of “Intangibles” in Business, by Douglas W. Hubbard; and …