Education Commons^™

Investigating The Role Of The Internet In Women And Minority Stem Participation: A Case Study Of Two Florida Engineering Programs, Arland Nguema Ndong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite our awareness of the fascination modern humans have with the Internet, little is known about how and why colleges and universities create and maintain Websites. At the most general level, in this case study, I hypothesize that university Websites serve as communication and marketing tools in attracting students. At the most specific level, I postulate that civil engineering programs with Web pages depicting images of women and minorities would be more successful in recruiting and retaining women and students of color than civil engineering programs with Web pages displaying fewer or no images of women and minorities. The primary …

Parts Of The Whole: An Algebra Lesson, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This column draws on research of Eon Harper to demonstrate how an understanding of his proposed stages of algebra acquisition would inform a systemic overhaul of algebra education. Harper's stages also explain why students may pass a series of algebra courses yet still be unable to make sense of calculus, as well as offering insight on what aspects of algebra support quantitative literacy.

Reducing Math Anxiety: Findings From Incorporating Service Learning Into A Quantitative Reasoning Course At Seattle University, Allison Henrich, Kristi Lee

Numeracy

How might one teach mathematics to math-anxious students and at the same time reduce their math anxiety? This paper describes what we found when we incorporated a service learning component into a quantitative reasoning course at Seattle University in Fall 2010 (20 students) and Spring 2011 (28 students). The course is taken primarily by humanities majors, many of whom would not take a course in math if they didn’t need to satisfy the university’s core requirement. For the service learning component, each student met with and tutored children at local schools for 1-2 hours per week (total about 15 service …

Quantitative Reasoning In The Contemporary World, 3: Assessing Student Learning, Stuart Boersma, Caren Diefenderfer, Shannon W. Dingman, Bernard L. Madison

Numeracy

In this third paper in a series describing the Quantitative Reasoning in the Contemporary World course, the authors provide an adaptation of the Association of American Colleges and Universities quantitative literacy VALUE rubric. Describing achievement levels in six core competencies (interpretation, representation, calculation, analysis/synthesis, and communication), the resulting Quantitative Literacy Assessment Rubric (QLAR) is applicable to grading student work and has exhibited a high degree of reliability in two separate scoring tests (97% and 88% respectively). The distribution of the six core competencies across the 24 case studies in the authors’ quantitative reasoning casebook shows that interpretation, calculation, and analysis/synthesis …

Constructivist And Behaviorist Approaches: Development And Initial Evaluation Of A Teaching Practice Scale For Introductory Statistics At The College Level, Rossi A. Hassad

Numeracy

This study examined the teaching practices of 227 college instructors of introductory statistics from the health and behavioral sciences. Using primarily multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques, a two-dimensional, 10-item teaching-practice scale, TISS (Teaching of Introductory Statistics Scale), was developed. The two dimensions (subscales) are characterized as constructivist and behaviorist; they are orthogonal. Criterion validity of the TISS was established in relation to instructors’ attitude toward teaching, and acceptable levels of reliability were obtained. A significantly higher level of behaviorist practice (less reform-oriented) was reported by instructors from the U.S., as well as instructors with academic degrees in mathematics and engineering, whereas …

Quantitative Literacy At Michigan State University, 2: Connection To Financial Literacy, Dennis Gilliland, Vince Melfi, Alla Sikorskii, Edward Corcoran, Eleanor Melfi

Numeracy

The lack of capability of making financial decisions has been recently described for the adult United States population. A concerted effort to increase awareness of this crisis, to improve education in quantitative and financial literacy, and to simplify financial decision-making processes is critical to the solution. This paper describes a study that was undertaken to explore the relationship between quantitative literacy and financial literacy for entering college freshmen. In summer 2010, incoming freshmen to Michigan State University were assessed. Well-tested financial literacy items and validated quantitative literacy assessment instruments were administered to 531 subjects. Logistic regression models were used to …

Quantitative Literacy At Michigan State University, 1: Development And Initial Evaluation Of The Assessment, Alla Sikorskii, Vince Melfi, Dennis Gilliland, Jennifer Kaplan, Suzie Ahn

Numeracy

Development, psychometric testing, and the results of the administration of a quantitative literacy (QL) assessment to undergraduate students are described. Three forms were developed covering a wide range of skills, contexts, and quantitative information presentation formats. Following item generation and revision based on preliminary testing and cognitive interviewing, a total of 3,701 consented undergraduate students at Michigan State University completed one of the three forms. Two of the forms contained 14 multiple-choice items, and one form contained 17 multiple-choice items. All forms were completed by students in less than 30 minutes. Evidence of validity and reliability were obtained for the …

Development Of An Assessment Of Quantitative Literacy For Miami University, Rose Marie Ward, Monica C. Schneider, James D. Kiper

Numeracy

Quantitative Literacy is a competence as important as general literacy; yet, while writing requirements are seemingly ubiquitous across the college curriculum, quantitative literacy requirements are not. The current project provides preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of a quantitative literacy measure suitable for delivery online. A sample of 188 undergraduate students from Miami University, a midsize university in the midwestern U.S., participated in the current study. Scores on the measure, were inversely related to statistical/mathematical anxiety measures, directly related to subjective assessment of numeracy, and did not differ across gender or year in school. The resulting measure provides a …

Communicating Quantitative Literacy: An Examination Of Open-Ended Assessment Items In Timss, Nals, Ials, And Pisa, Karl W. Kosko, Jesse L. M. Wilkins

Numeracy

Quantitative Literacy (QL) has been described as the skill set an individual uses when interacting with the world in a quantitative manner. A necessary component of this interaction is communication. To this end, assessments of QL have included open-ended items as a means of including communicative aspects of QL. The present study sought to examine whether such open-ended items typically measured aspects of quantitative communication, as compared to mathematical communication, or mathematical skills. We focused on public-released items and rubrics from four of the most widely referenced assessments: the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS-95): the National Adult Literacy …

A Quantitative Literacy View Of Natural Disasters And Nuclear Facilities, C. B. Connor

Numeracy

The March 11, 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Tohoku, Japan, highlights the need to improve quantitative literacy (QL) in natural hazard assessment. A critical understanding of natural hazard assessments requires a sophisticated perspective on the mathematical and statistical tools used to estimate the odds of disaster, and the roles of data quality, model development, and subjective probability in estimation of uncertainty. Thus, improved QL is a basic requirement for improved decision-making about the safety of critical infrastructure, such as nuclear facilities.

A Leap Forward For Quantitative Literacy, H. L. Vacher

Numeracy

The Association of American College and Universities’ Learning Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative has identified quantitative literacy (QL) as one of its Essential Learning Outcomes and classified it amongst five other Intellectual and Practical Skills such as inquiry and analysis, critical and creative thinking, and written and oral communication. This brings to mind a spreadsheet in which these transdisciplinary intellectual and practical skills are rows and academic disciplines are columns. With the view that the learning outcome QL is a row crossing mathematics and other disciplinary columns, this editorial considers how the papers in this and previous issues of …

Parent Involvement In Children's Schooling: An Investigation Of Measurement Equivalence Across Ethnic Groups, Heather Marie Scott

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Epstein et al.'s Theory of Overlapping Spheres of Influence focuses on the interaction and communication, or partnerships, among families, schools, and the community to bring the three closer together. The theory works in conjunction with Epstein's typology of parental involvement, which focuses on six types of involvement that are instrumental to a child's development and his/her school and educational success. These serve as the framework for the study and support the construct of parent's involvement in children's schooling.

The purpose of the current study was to conduct further validation analyses of an inventory designed to measure the construct of parent …

Informal Karst Education In The United States And Internationally, Leslie A. North

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the abundance of karst terrains and the important role they play in a wide variety of roles including supplying freshwater drinking supplies, no single, comprehensive study investigates the role of informal education for the improved understanding and protection of the terrains. Commonly overlooked anthropogenic karst disturbances partially occur because of the poor dissemination of scientific information to the general populace and policymakers and budgetary and time constraints of municipalities, thus generating a need to use informal education to fill these shortcomings. The purpose of this study was to: 1) establish the status of and quantify the amount of karst-related …

Meta-Analysis Of Single-Case Data: A Monte Carlo Investigation Of A Three Level Model, Corina M. Owens

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous ways to meta-analyze single-case data have been proposed in the literature, however, consensus on the most appropriate method has not been reached. One method that has been proposed involves multilevel modeling. This study used Monte Carlo methods to examine the appropriateness of Van den Noortgate and Onghena's (2008) raw data multilevel modeling approach to the meta-analysis of single-case data. Specifically, the study examined the fixed effects (i.e., the overall average baseline level and the overall average treatment effect) and the variance components (e.g., the between person within study variance in the average baseline level, the between study variance in …

Calculus, Biology And Medicine: A Case Study In Quantitative Literacy For Science Students, Kim Rheinlander, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This paper describes a course designed to enhance the numeracy of biology and pre-medical students. The course introduces students with the background of one semester of calculus to systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations as they appear in the mathematical biology literature. Evaluation of the course showed increased enjoyment and confidence in doing mathematics, and an increased appreciation of the utility of mathematics to science. Students who complete this course are better able to read the research literature in mathematical biology and carry out research problems of their own.

Spreadsheets Across The Curriculum, 3: Finding A List Of Mathematical Skills For Quantitative Literacy Empirically, H L. Vacher, Emily Lardner

Numeracy

What mathematical topics do educators committed to teaching mathematics in context choose for their students when given the opportunity to develop an educational resource explicitly to teach mathematics in context? This paper examines the choices made for the 55 modules by 40 authors in the General Collection of the Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum (SSAC) library. About half of the modules were made by authors from natural science, and about 60% of the other modules were by authors from mathematics. The modules are tagged with terms of a search vocabulary developed for the browse page of the collection. The four terms …

Personal And Professional Numeracy: A Unit For Pre-Service Teachers At The University Of Tasmania, Jane M. Watson

Numeracy

This paper addresses issues associated with the development of a unit preparing pre-service teachers to be quantitatively literate in three respects. These issues surround (i) the need to be aware of numeracy demands across the curriculum, (ii) the need to model numerate behavior in all interactions of teachers, and (iii) the need to be able to interpret and use system data provided from local and national testing programs. The context for the unit described is Australia, where a national testing program for literacy and numeracy requires teachers to analyze extensive data on their students, a national curriculum requires teachers of …

Spreadsheets Across The Curriculum, 2: Assessing Our Success With Students At Eckerd College, Laura Reiser Wetzel

Numeracy

The Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum (SSAC) library consists of activities to reinforce or teach quantitative literacy or mathematical concepts and skills in context. Each SSAC “module” consists of a PowerPoint presentation with embedded Excel spreadsheets. Each student works through a presentation, thinks about the in-context problem, figures out how to solve it mathematically, and builds spreadsheets to calculate and examine answers.

To assess the effectiveness of SSAC modules, I surveyed Eckerd College undergraduates in two separate studies. Two undergraduate research assistants and I generated pre- and post-tests for 10 SSAC modules. We hired 21 undergraduates who conducted 62 individual module …

Reflections On The Tenth Anniversary Of Mathematics And Democracy, Lynn Arthur Steen, Bernard L. Madison

Numeracy

Two independent reflections by early proponents of quantitative literacy connect today's numeracy initiative with its origin in concern about school tests, its impact on students today, and the challenges of democracy. Even as interest in QL grows in many places, evidence of need also grows. Moreover, well-meaning programs with other goals—especially at the K-12 level—often channel education in directions that fail to advance numeracy. Examples show that both students and teachers are enthusiastic when offered QL opportunities, but that individual beliefs and public decisions often belie the goals of QL.

Go Figure: Calculus Students' Use Of Figures And Graphs In Technical Report Writing, Thomas J. Pfaff, Michael Rogers, Ali Erkan, Jason G. Hamilton

Numeracy

Understanding how to read and use graphs to communicate scientific and mathematical information is critical for STEM majors, as well as an important part of quantitative literacy. Our study suggests that first-semester calculus students do not know how to use graphs in a technical report without explicit instruction. Although not a surprising result, it leaves us wondering about when such skills are developed, and if calculus I is a place to start. Our work is now exploring the potential benefit on students' use of graphs by having them formally evaluate other students' reports.

Four Popular Books On Consumer Debt: A Context For Quantitative Literacy, Andrew J. Miller

Numeracy

The topics of credit cards, mortgages, subprime lending, and fringe banking are rich sources of problems and discussions for classes focused on quantitative literacy. In this theme book review, we look at four recent books on the consumer debt industry: Credit Card Nation, by Robert Manning; Maxed Out, by James Scurlock; Collateral Damaged, by Charles Geisst; and Broke, USA, by Gary Rivlin. Credit Card Nation takes a scholarly look at the history of credit in America with a focus on the genesis and growth of the credit card industry up to the turn of the 20th century. Maxed Out also …

Review Of Sex, Drugs And Body Counts: The Politics Of Numbers In Global Crime And Conflict, Edited By Peter Andreas And Kelly M. Greenhill, Aaron G. Montgomery

Numeracy

Andreas, Peter, and Greenhill, Kelly M. (Eds.). Sex, Drugs, and Body Counts: The Politics of Numbers in Global Crime and Conflict, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010). 287 pp. ISBN 978-0-8014-4861-4 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-8014-7618-1 (pbk).

The ten scholarly papers in Sex, Drugs and Body Counts explore the generation and propagation of numbers that drive policy decisions in the U.S. government regarding human trafficking, drug trade, and armed conflict (including the war on terror). Each of these papers, written by different authors, provides an illuminating insight into how some of the numbers we hear or read in the news are derived. …

Parts Of The Whole : Cognition, Schemas, And Quantitative Reasoning, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

Based loosely on ideas of Jean Piaget and Richard Skemp, this Parts of the Whole column considers the construction of knowledge in mathematics and quantitative reasoning. Examples are chosen that illustrate an important cognitive difference between quantitative numeracy and classical mathematics, and which illuminate the particular choices instructors must make in order to teach either or both of these.