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2015

Curriculum and Instruction

University of South Florida

Journal

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Education

Promoting Numeracy In An Online College Algebra Course Through Projects And Discussions, Samuel L. Tunstall, Michael J. Bossé Jul 2015

Promoting Numeracy In An Online College Algebra Course Through Projects And Discussions, Samuel L. Tunstall, Michael J. Bossé

Numeracy

This research stems from efforts to infuse quantitative literacy (QL) in an online version of college algebra. College algebra fulfills a QL requirement at many universities, and it is a terminal course for most who take it. In light of the course’s traditional content and teaching methods, students often leave with little gained in QL. An online platform provides a unique means of engaging students in quantitative discussions and research, yet little research exists on online courses in the context of QL. The course studied included weekly news discussions as well as “messy” projects requiring data analysis. Students in online …

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Numeracy Infusion Course For Higher Education (Niche), 2: Development Of Students' Bayesian Reasoning Skill, Frank Wang Jul 2015

Numeracy Infusion Course For Higher Education (Niche), 2: Development Of Students' Bayesian Reasoning Skill, Frank Wang

Numeracy

Gerd Gigerenzer's technique of frequency representations for solving the medical diagnosis problem, mammography problem, and other Bayesian reasoning problems is summarized in this paper. Such a method has been introduced to community college students in an elementary statistics course. With repeated practice, many community college students can acquire the skill and avoid reported judgment errors that are commonly committed by medical professionals. However, weaknesses in basic skills such as percentage calculations prevent some students from obtaining the correct probability.

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Numeracy Infusion Course For Higher Education (Niche), 1: Teaching Faculty How To Improve Students' Quantitative Reasoning Skills Through Cognitive Illusions, Frank Wang, Esther I. Wilder Jul 2015

Numeracy Infusion Course For Higher Education (Niche), 1: Teaching Faculty How To Improve Students' Quantitative Reasoning Skills Through Cognitive Illusions, Frank Wang, Esther I. Wilder

Numeracy

We describe one of the eight units of a professional development program, the Numeracy Infusion Course for Higher Education (NICHE), which introduces research on cognition, including dual-processing theories, to university faculty. Under the dual-processing framework, System 1 (intuition) quickly proposes intuitive answers to judgment problems as they arise, while System 2 (deliberation) monitors the quality of these proposals, which it may endorse, correct, or override. We present several classic questions that demonstrate the pitfalls of overreliance on intuition without analytical thinking, then describe faculty participants’ responses to these questions and their ideas on how to apply cognitive illusion research to …

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Faculty Viewpoints On Teaching Quantway®, Heather Howington, Thomas Hartfield, Cinnamon Hillyard Jan 2015

Faculty Viewpoints On Teaching Quantway®, Heather Howington, Thomas Hartfield, Cinnamon Hillyard

Numeracy

Quantway is a quantitative reasoning-based pathway for developmental math that has been developed as an alternative to the traditional remedial algebra sequence. To explore the experiences of faculty involved with Quantway, we interviewed eight individuals who have taught the course in the past year to survey their attitudes and opinions about students in their classes, the materials and pedagogies in use, and the collegial interaction of networked faculty. Faculty were selected with the intention of gathering a broad set of opinions resulting from differences of location, experience, and other factors. In this paper, we summarize those interviews by identifying common …

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Quantitative Literacy And Co-Construction In A High School Math Course, Mark Russo Jan 2015

Quantitative Literacy And Co-Construction In A High School Math Course, Mark Russo

Numeracy

This article reports some of the key findings from a practitioner-action research study that analyzed the impact of co-construction on students’ quantitative literacy (QL) and attitudes towards mathematics. Co-construction is a process where students work alongside their teachers to plan units, lessons, and assessments, and this approach was chosen because of its potential to help students advocate for the specific mathematical contexts that would best develop their QL. This yearlong study took place in a public high school, with forty-five students in two different classes participating. Students formally contributed to the development of the course by completing written questionnaires and …

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