Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Threshold Concepts In Quantitative Reasoning, Judith Canner, Jennifer E. Clinkenbeard

Numeracy

The idea of “threshold concepts” has been used to identify discipline-based concepts that are critical to that academic area. Threshold concepts are often difficult for students to assimilate in a meaningful way but, once done, can be powerful for the learner. In general, threshold concepts are 1) transformative to learner thinking; 2) bounded by the discipline; 3) integrative with other concepts; and 4) irreversible once understood (Meyer and Land 2003). This paper presents five threshold concepts in quantitative reasoning (QR) developed by transdisciplinary faculty workgroups that may be applicable for non-mathematics disciplines as well. They are as follows: 1) QR …

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 …

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.

Complex Adaptive Systems And Quantitative Reasoning In An Interdisciplinary Stem Mathematics Classroom, Robert L. Mayes, Kania Greer

Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019)

In this presentation we will share outcomes from the Real STEM project, which provides professional development for rural teachers in the Georgia Coastal Plains supporting implementation of interdisciplinary STEM courses as well as STEM modules in mathematics and science courses. Real STEM includes a number of innovative student-active strategies for teaching including: Understanding by Design (UbD) approaches to teaching for understanding, problem-based learning (PBL), place-based education (PBE), complex adaptive systems (CAS) thinking, and quantitative reasoning (QR). QR is the mathematical underpinning of the projects. The projects are ongoing so we will report our results on impact on teacher practice and …