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Are We At A Watershed Moment For The Quantitative Literacy Movement?: Review Of Shifting Context, Stable Core: Advancing Quantitative Literacy In Higher Education, By Luke Tunstall, Gizem Karaali, And Victor Piercey, Eds., Maura Mast

Numeracy

Luke Tunstall, Gizem Karaali, and Victor Piercey, eds. 2019. Shifting Concepts, Stable Core: Advancing Quantitative Literacy in Higher Education. Math Notes 88. (Mathematics Association of America, MAA Press). Print ISBN 978-0-88385-198-2. Electronic ISBN 978-1-61444-324-7.

The thematic approach of the edited MAA Notes volume Shifting Contexts, Stable Core: Advancing Quantitative Literacy in Higher Education is that the “construct” of quantitative literacy is now fairly stable, but the contexts in which quantitative literacy is taught (and practiced) continue to change. Several chapters give the reader much to consider regarding what constitutes the foundation of this stable core and, relatedly, how quantitative …

Quantitative Literacy And The Mathematical Association Of America In The 2000’S: Ql Subcommittee Of Cupm , Sigmaa Ql, And Maa Notes #70, Rick Gillman

Numeracy

This Roots and Seeds article is a partial history of the quantitative literacy movement in the Mathematical Association of America in the first decade of the 21st century. It focuses on the inclusion of QL in the MAA Committee on the Undergraduate Program in Mathematics’ CUPM Curriculum Guidelines (2004), the creation of the special interest group for MAA members (SIGMAA QL, 2004), and the work of that body in subsequent years, in particular, the MAA Notes #70, Current Practices in Quantitative Literacy (2006). I discuss some issues that were problematic in the QL movement in the MAA in those years …

The Ultimatum Game: An Introduction To Quantitative Literacy In A Social Justice Context, Robert G. Root

Numeracy

The Ultimatum Game is a two-person, multiple-strategy game widely used in the experimental social sciences to demonstrate the human propensity for costly punishment in response to inequitable treatment. The game serves to provide quantitative evidence for a diversity of fairness norms across cultures. The play of the game and its interpretation offer nuanced views of the nature and importance of quantitative literacy. Its use in a writing seminar connecting quantitative literacy and social justice is described.

Paired Measures Of Competence And Confidence Illuminate Impacts Of Privilege On College Students, Rachel M. Watson, Edward Nuhfer, Kali Nicholas Moon, Steven Fleisher, Paul Walter, Karl Wirth, Christopher Cogan, Ami Wangeline, Eric Gaze

Numeracy

We seek to understand how the experiences of groups that differ in gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation produce college-level educational performances that differ from the experiences of the dominant majority group. We employ two datasets: a National Database of 24,701 participants and a Paired-Measures Database with 3,323 participants. Both datasets provide demographic information, socioeconomic conditions of status as first-generation student, English as a first language, and interest in majoring in science, and competency scores on understanding science as a way of knowing obtained from the Science Literacy Concept Inventory. The Paired-Measures Database includes additional self-assessed competence ratings that enabled quantifying …

Roots And Seeds: Finding Our Place In The Social Practice Nexus That Is Quantitative Literacy, H. L. Vacher, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

The purpose of our new Roots and Seeds feature is to provide an open-access space to archive first-hand accounts of QL activities that have preceded our journal (2008). The first two contributions in the collection appeared last issue: Linda Sons on the making of what has come to be known as the 1994 Sons Report (Mathematics Association of America), and Dorothy Wallace on her path to the Quantitative Literacy Design Team for Mathematics and Democracy (2001), and the questions that bedeviled them then – and us now. In this issue, we get Rick Gillman’s account of how the committee that …

The Sons Report (1989-1994, Mathematical Association Of America): The Way It Was, Linda R. Sons

Numeracy

Recollections and commentary by Linda R. Sons on a 1994 national report entitled Quantitative Reasoning for College Graduates: A Complement to the Standards. Professor Sons chaired the committee which wrote the report and championed its use.

This paper traces the development of the 1994 MAA report Quantitative Reasoning for College Graduates: A Complement to the Standards--a report which is still surprisingly relevant. The paper highlights some major parts of the report, describing the context in which its conclusions were made. Additionally, it challenges and encourages those continuing the quest for QL in the nation by noting progress made …

Three Formative Questions In The Quantitative Literacy Movement, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

In this essay we remember early discussions attempting to answer three questions that played a formative role in our understanding of and approach to numeracy, quantitative literacy, and quantitative reasoning: (1) What is numeracy? (2) Should the QL movement promote any specific kind of pedagogy? (3) What organizational structure will best support QL?

As the QL movement has progressed, these three questions continue to be difficult to answer. As a result, they have been useful formative guides for institutions and organizations seeking to improve the quantitative reasoning of students. Now that the quantitative literacy movement has a firmer standing in …

The Second Decade Of Numeracy: Entering The Seas Of Literacy, H. L. Vacher

Numeracy

This multipurpose editorial explores and tries to count the many types of literacy that are referred to by name in Wikipedia and Numeracy. Wikipedia’s Category:Literacy page identifies 44 kinds of literacy that are the subject of articles, ranging from numeracy and graphicacy to braille literacy and diaspora literacy. In addition, searching Google finds more than 30 adjective-literacy or noun-literacy collocations, including quantitative literacy, adult literacy, and document literacy, that do not have Wikipedia pages of their own but are mentioned on other Wikipedia pages. The sum puts this modest literacy count in line with the more than 70 bodies …

Numeracy And Social Justice: A Wide, Deep, And Longstanding Intersection, Kira Hamman, Victor Piercey, Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

We discuss the connection between the numeracy and social justice movements both in historical context and in its modern incarnation. The intersection between numeracy and social justice encompasses a wide variety of disciplines and quantitative topics, but within that variety there are important commonalities. We examine the importance of sound quantitative measures for understanding social issues and the necessity of interdisciplinary collaboration in this work. Particular reference is made to the papers in the first part of the Numeracy special collection on social justice, which appear in this issue.

Developing Mathematics Teachers’ Attention To Quantitative Reasoning In Task Design: A Modeling Approach, David Glassmeyer

Numeracy

This study examines how a models-and-modeling perspective affected teachers' attention to quantitative reasoning in task design. A Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA) was implemented with 21 teachers over four weeks, challenging teachers to design a quantitative reasoning task for their students. Teachers’ initial quantitative reasoning tasks did not incorporate quantities or quantitative relationships, two essential components of quantitative reasoning. As teachers revised their tasks through the MEA, most teachers began attending to these components. This article details how a modeling approach to teacher education provided a method to describe and support teachers to incorporate quantitative reasoning in their classroom tasks, though attending …

An Uncommon Textbook: Review Of Common Sense Mathematics By Ethan Bolker And Maura Mast, Bernard Madison

Numeracy

Ethan D. Bolker and Maura B. Mast. 2016. Common Sense Mathematics.(Washington DC.: Mathematics Association of America) ISBN-13: 978-1-93951-210-9.

Common Sense Mathematics is an integrative quantitative reasoning (QR) textbook that is built around scores of exercises derived from authentic circumstances from public media and other public sources. The exercises elicit responses from students requiring extensive communication and analyses and distinguish the book from ones typically encountered in a mathematics or science course. Responses to exercises often require one-half page or more of writing and can occupy considerable class time in discussion. The book has material for a one- or two-semester …