Education Commons^™

Parts Of The Whole: The Last Column: Freire's Pedagogy Of Liberation, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

The educational theory of Paolo Freire is briefly summarized for instructors of quantitative reasoning, with a focus on what it means to give students “agency.” Some examples are given of how to implement his basic ideas.

Parts Of The Whole: Logical Categories Of Learning: Why Teaching Qr Is Hard, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This column introduces the reader to an essay by anthropologist Gregory Bateson on the nature of learning. In that essay, he stratifies the learning process into categories based on what aspect of the student’s understanding is required to change in order to accomplish a given learning task. A discussion of the first three categories is followed here by examples from quantitative reasoning tasks and a further example from the ongoing discussion in the community of what numeracy entails. Bateson’s classification of learning into “logical categories” sheds light on what the goals of numeracy ask of both student and teacher, as …

On "Icky" Data, The Political Classroom, And Towards Equity And Social Justice In Mathematics Education: A Conversation With Tonya Bartell, Samuel L. Tunstall, Oyemolade Osibodu, Tonya Gau Bartell

Numeracy

Tonya G. Bartell, ed. 2018. Towards Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education (Switzerland: Springer International Publishing) 341 pp. ISBN 978-3319929064.

This brief interview with Tonya Bartell introduces Towards Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education to the Numeracy audience. The interviewers also discuss with Tonya connections between quantitative literacy and mathematics for social justice, particularly in the context of US K-12 schooling. Tonya shares her perspective on topics ranging from the placement of quantitative literacy in K-12 mathematics education and how one might get started in incorporating a social justice lens into their teaching to paradigms for research …

Review Of Towards Equity And Justice In Mathematics Education, Edited By Tonya Gau Bartell, Emily Lardner

Numeracy

Tonya Grau Bartell, editor. 2018.Toward Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education. (Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing). 341 pp. ISBN 978-3-319-92906-4 (also available as an e-book).

Toward Equity and Social Justice in Mathematics Education is a welcome addition to ongoing conversations about what mathematics should be taught and how it should be taught at both the college and pre-college level. Although the primary audience for the volume will be math educators and researchers, readers of this journal will discover intersecting interests, concerns, and strategies.

Six Propositions Of A Social Theory Of Numeracy: Interpreting An Influential Theory Of Literacy, Jeffrey Craig, Lynette Guzmán

Numeracy

We share our experiences comprehending social theory as it applies to numeracy scholarship. We build on existing arguments that social theory—explicitly acknowledging the presence and influence of histories, power, and purposes—offers something important to scholars who study and discuss numeracy. In this article, we translate the six propositions of one particular social theory of literacy into propositions about numeracy, then we explore the meaning of each proposition, its connections to existing scholarship, and its implications. This article emerges from two literature reviews: one on social theories (especially their application to and development in literacy) and one on numeracy. We bring …

Collaboration Among Mathematicians And Mathematics Educators: Working Together To Educate Preservice Teachers, Amanda R. Mohn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Collaboration among higher education professors who are responsible for the education of preservice teachers is one potential solution to the problem of poor teacher preparation. Specifically, collaboration among mathematics educators and mathematicians can enhance preservice teacher preparation because it provides opportunities for preservice teachers to develop pedagogical content knowledge. However, collaborative efforts are challenging, and collaborators often face obstacles and tensions arise among the collaborative group members. Learning about ways the collaborators approach their collaborative efforts, the issues and tensions that arise, the hindering and supporting factors that affect the collaboration, and the potential outcomes of collaborative efforts provides information …

Parts Of The Whole: Hands On Statistics, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

In this column we describe a hands-on data collection lab for an introductory statistics course. The exercise elicits issues of normality, sampling, and sample mean comparisons. Based on volcanology models of tephra dispersion, this lab leads students to question the accuracy of some assumptions made in the model, particularly regarding the normality of the dispersal of tephra of identical size in a given atmospheric layer.

Why I Believe People Need Painting By Numbers, Jason Makansi

Numeracy

Jason Makansi.2016. Painting By Numbers: How to Sharpen Your BS Detector and Smoke Out the Experts (Tucson AZ: Layla Dog Press). 196 pp. ISBN 978-0998425900.

This piece briefly introduces my Painting By Numbers, which aims to take the core messages of the QL/QR community from academic and professional circles to the rest of the citizenry. I describe the book in the context of the critical need for the most basic numeracy tools to help consumers of news, information, and analysis—delivered through traditional and contemporary social media outlets—determine where a reported numerical result lies on the scale from utter nonsense …

Disrupting Dominant Discourses: A (Re)Introduction To Social Practice Theories Of Adult Numeracy, Helen M. Oughton

Numeracy

The role of dominant discourse in constructing a deficit view of adult numeracy is examined, using reports from recent international surveys of adult skills as illustrative examples. Social practice theory is introduced as an alternative perspective for examining the ways adults actually use numeracy in their daily lives and work. This perspective suggests the test items used by large-scale surveys such as PIACC are only proxies for real-life numeracy skills, and that performance in such tests may misrepresent the numeracy skills of adults. Instead, social practice theory suggests that adults may have informal, situated numeracy practices that serve them adequately …

Parts Of The Whole: Why I Teach This Subject This Way, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

The importance of mathematics to biology is illustrated by search data from Google Scholar. I argue that a pedagogical approach based on student research projects is likely to improve retention and foster critical thinking about mathematical modeling, as well as reinforce quantitative reasoning and the appreciation of calculus as a tool. The usual features of a course (e.g., the instructor, assessment, text, etc.) are shown to have very different purposes in a research-based course.

A Quantitative Reasoning Approach To Algebra Using Inquiry-Based Learning, Victor I. Piercey

Numeracy

In this paper, I share a hybrid quantitative reasoning/algebra two-course sequence that challenges the common assumption that quantitative literacy and reasoning are less rigorous mathematics alternatives to algebra and illustrates that a quantitative reasoning framework can be used to teach traditional algebra. The presentation is made in two parts. In the first part, which is somewhat philosophical and theoretical, I explain my personal perspective of what I mean by “algebra” and “doing algebra.” I contend that algebra is a form of communication whose value is precision, which allows us to perform algebraic manipulations in the form of simplification and solving …

Precalculus Students' Achievement When Learning Functions: Influences Of Opportunity To Learn And Technology From A University Of Chicago School Mathematics Project Study, Laura A. Hauser

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The concept of function is one of the essential topics in the teaching and learning of secondary mathematics because of the central and unifying role it plays within secondary and college level mathematics. Organizations, such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, suggest students should be able to make connections across multiple representations of mathematical functions by the time they complete high school. Despite the prominent role functions play in secondary mathematics curriculum, students continue to struggle with the complex notion of functions and especially have difficulty using the different representations that are inherent to functions (algebraic, graphical and …

Parts Of The Whole: The Educational Sieve, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This essay argues that the structure of course prerequisites affects retention of students in a course of study. The same argument suggests that the structure of degree requirements, including quantitative reasoning courses, affects retention in college. In particular, the same set of courses required in a rigid sequence will cause more students to exit the program early than if the same courses were offered in a flexible order.

Parts Of The Whole: When Variation Is The Goal, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

The goals of higher education are a population of extreme variability in expertise, a diffusion of specialized knowledge across disciplinary boundaries, and production of strong K-12 teachers. Promoting these three goals has implications at all granularities, from the pedagogy of an individual college professor to the incentives and policies that shape systemic change.

Review Of Calculation Vs. Context: Quantitative Literacy And Its Implications For Teacher Education By Bernard L. Madison And Lynn Arthur Steen (Editors), Maura B. Mast

Numeracy

Madison, Bernard L. and Steen, Lynn Arthur (Eds.). Calculation vs. Context: Quantitative Literacy and Its Implications for Teacher Education. (Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America, 2009). 197 pp. Softcover. ISBN 978-0-88385-908-7. Available free on the MAA website at http://www.maa.org/ql/calcvscontext.html

The papers in Calculation vs. Context discuss the role of quantitative literacy in the K-12 curriculum and in teacher education. The papers present a varied set of perspectives and address three themes: the changing environment of education in American society; the challenges, and the necessity, of preparing teachers to teach quantitative literacy and of including quantitative literacy in the K-12 education; …