Education Commons^™

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.

Learning To Think Slower: Review Of Thinking, Fast And Slow By Daniel Kahneman (2011), Samuel L. Tunstall, Patrick N. Beymer

Numeracy

Daniel Kahneman. Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux) 499 pp. ISBN 978-0374275631.

As an expansive review of Kahneman and others' work over the past half-century in understanding human decision-making, Thinking, Fast and Slow provides Numeracy readers much to consider for both pedagogy and research. In this review, we outline Kahneman's core argument—that humans use both rash (emotional) System 1 thinking and slow (logical) System 2 thinking—then discuss how such systems might be addressed in a quantitative literacy classroom.

Figures And First Years: An Analysis Of Calculus Students' Use Of Figures In Technical Reports, Nathan J. Antonacci, Michael Rogers, Thomas J. Pfaff, Jason G. Hamilton

Numeracy

This three-year study focused on first-year Calculus I students and their abilities to incorporate figures in technical reports. In each year, these calculus students wrote a technical report as part of the Polar Bear Module, an educational unit developed for use in partner courses in biology, computer science, mathematics, and physics as part of the Multidisciplinary Sustainability Education (MSE) project at Ithaca College. In the first year of the project, students received basic technical report guidelines. In year two, the report guidelines changed to include explicit language on how to incorporate figures. In year three, a grading rubric was added …

Quantitative Reasoning For Teachers: Explorations In Foundational Ideas And Pedagogy, Sheryl Stump

Numeracy

This note describes a course designed to prepare community college instructors and K-12 teachers for teaching foundational aspects of quantitative reasoning. A body of literature on quantitative reasoning and quantitative literacy informed the course design. The note describes the course content, which includes engaging in case studies, reading and discussion, writing assignments, group problem solving, and news-of-the-day presentations. Details of these assignments are provided. The capstone assignment for the course is for participants to design a set of case studies for their own students. Details of this assignment are also provided as well as specific examples of participants’ learning.

Using Visual Analogies To Teach Introductory Statistical Concepts, Jessica S. Ancker, Melissa D. Begg

Numeracy

Introductory statistical concepts are some of the most challenging to convey in quantitative literacy courses. Analogies supplemented by visual illustrations can be highly effective teaching tools. This literature review shows that to exploit the power of analogies, teachers must select analogies familiar to the audience, explicitly link the analog with the target concept, and avert misconceptions by explaining where the analogy fails. We provide guidance for instructors and a series of visual analogies for use in teaching medical and health statistics.

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 …

Numeracy Across The Curriculum In Australian Schools: Teacher Education Students’ And Practicing Teachers’ Views And Understandings Of Numeracy, Helen J. Forgasz, Gilah Leder, Jennifer Hall

Numeracy

In this article, we confront the challenges to teacher education students and practicing teachers raised by the concept of numeracy and its place in the curriculum. In the Australian Curriculum, there is an expectation that teachers at all grade levels and in all subject areas develop students' numeracy capabilities. At Monash University, a public, research-intensive university, the largest university in Australia, graduate level teacher education students are now required to complete a course entitled Numeracy for Learners and Teachers. We describe the content of this course and, from an online survey, report findings of the impact on students' understandings …

Parts Of The Whole: Error Estimation For Science Students, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

It is important for science students to understand not only how to estimate error sizes in measurement data, but also to see how these errors contribute to errors in conclusions they may make about the data. Relatively small errors in measurement, errors in assumptions, and roundoff errors in computation may result in large error bounds on computed quantities of interest. In this column, we look closely at a standard method for measuring the volume of cancer tumor xenografts to see how small errors in each of these three factors may contribute to relatively large observed errors in recorded tumor volumes.

Connecting Numbers With Emotion: Review Of Numbers And Nerves: Information, Emotion, And Meaning In A World Of Data By Scott Slovic And Paul Slovic (2015), Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

Scott Slovic and Paul Slovic (Eds.). Numbers and Nerves: Information, Emotion, and Meaning in a World of Data (Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University Press, 2015). 272 pp. ISBN 978-0-87071-776-5.

It is common to view quantitative literacy as reasoning with respect to numbers. In Numbers and Nerves, the contributors to the volume make clear that we should attend not only to how students consciously reason with numbers, but also how our innate biases influence our actions when faced with numbers. Beginning with the concepts of psychic numbing, and then psuedoinefficacy, the contributors to the volume examine how our behaviors when …

Review Of Qmasc: A Handbook For Directors Of Quantitative And Mathematics Support Centers Edited By Grace Coulombe, Mary B. O’Neill, And Michael Schuckers (2016), Vera Frith

Numeracy

Grace Coulombe, Mary B. O’Neill, and Michael Schuckers (Eds). QMaSC: A Handbook for Directors of Quantitative and Mathematics Support Centers. (Tampa FL: USF Libraries – Tampa Library, 2016). http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/qmasc_handbook/

The over thirty different authors of this handbook, all of whom are experienced in supporting learning in mathematics and quantitative disciplines, provide a useful perspective on the practical issues that affect the running of a learning support centre, as well as the problems of working within a complex institution of higher education. The handbook contains information on leadership and management, how to maintain community interactions, managing staffing (including hiring and …

Quantitative Literacy For The Future Flourishing Of Our Students: A Guiding Aim For Mathematics Education, Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

In this essay, I examine the extent to which mathematics education and education for quantitative literacy support students’ present and future flourishing, a concept that entails realizing objective goods in a life lived from the inside. This perspective requires disentangling philosophical assumptions about the aims of mathematics education, which—in the context of flourishing—I take to be a hybrid of those that have informed curricular discussions over the past two centuries. In the process, I problematize ("make strange") many of the common reasons given for students learning mathematics, including: learning it for one’s career, for one’s logical reasoning skills, or …

A Twenty-Year Look At “Computational Geology,” An Evolving, In-Discipline Course In Quantitative Literacy At The University Of South Florida, Victor J. Ricchezza, H. L. Vacher

Numeracy

Since 1996, the Geology (GLY) program at the USF has offered “Computational Geology” as part of its commitment to prepare undergraduate majors for the quantitative aspects of their field. The course focuses on geological-mathematical problem solving. Over its twenty years, the course has evolved from a GATC (geometry-algebra-trigonometry-calculus) in-discipline capstone to a quantitative literacy (QL) course taught within a natural science major. With the formation of the new School of Geosciences in 2013, the merging departments re-examined their various curricular programs. An online survey of the Geology Alumni Society found that “express quantitative evidence in support of an argument” was …

The Quantitative Reasoning For College Science (Quarcs) Assessment 2: Demographic, Academic And Attitudinal Variables As Predictors Of Quantitative Ability, Katherine Follette, Sanlyn Buxner, Erin Dokter, Donald Mccarthy, Beau Vezino, Laci Brock, Edward Prather

Numeracy

In this article, we explore the ability of demographic and attitudinal variables to predict student scores on the Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment. Variables measured by the assessment include: students' academic choices and plans, attitudes and perceptions regarding mathematics, self-reported effort level, and basic demographics such as age, race/ethnicity, gender and disability status. As in previously published numeracy studies, we find significant score deviations according to gender, race/ethnicity, and disability status; however, the effect size of these correlations pale in comparison to the effect size of affective/attitudinal variables on QuaRCS score. A large number of variables with …

Providing Open-Access Know How For Directors Of Quantitative And Mathematics Support Centers, Michael Schuckers, Mary B. O'Neill, Grace Coulombe

Numeracy

The purpose of this editorial is to introduce the quantitative literacy community to the newly published A Handbook for Directors of Quantitative and Mathematics Centers. QMaSCs (pronounced “Q-masks”) can be broadly defined as centers that have supporting students in quantitative fields of study as part of their mission. Some focus only on calculus or mathematics; others concentrate on numeracy or quantitative literacy, and some do all of that. A QMaSC may be embedded in a mathematics department, or part of a learning commons, or a stand-alone center. There are hundreds of these centers in the U.S. The new handbook, …