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Science and Mathematics Education Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Science and Mathematics Education

College Students’ Numeracy Events In Discussing Public Issues, Samuel L. Tunstall Oct 2022

College Students’ Numeracy Events In Discussing Public Issues, Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

An important consideration in the design and development of numeracy-focused coursework is ensuring that one meets students where they are with respect to both their mathematics background and their existing numeracy practices in relation to public issues. The latter consideration is especially important, given that students already think about such issues in their daily lives, long before we use them as a means for motivating quantitative exploration in the classroom. In this article, I report on a qualitative study of eight college students’ numeracy events—that is, events mediated in some way by quantification–when reasoning in focus groups with three distinct …


What Can We Learn From The Different Understandings Of Mathematical Literacy?, Svein Arne Sikko Aug 2022

What Can We Learn From The Different Understandings Of Mathematical Literacy?, Svein Arne Sikko

Numeracy

Mathematical literacy, quantitative literacy, numeracy, matheracy, disciplinary literacy, and content-area literacy are among a plethora of terms used to link mathematics and literacy. In addition to this abundance of terms, the content of the terms is not precise, and in some cases the terms are used interchangeably. I delve into this landscape and dissect the meaning of each of them. From such an analysis of mathematical literacy, numeracy, and quantitative literacy, we learn about the importance of quantitative practices and elementary mathematics in society, including both how mathematics is necessary for everyday life but also how it can be used …


How The Number Line Can Be Used To Promote Students' Understanding Of The Normal Distribution, Danri H. Delport Feb 2022

How The Number Line Can Be Used To Promote Students' Understanding Of The Normal Distribution, Danri H. Delport

Numeracy

A strong foundation in early number concepts is crucial for students’ future success in statistics. Despite its importance in statistics, many first-year students struggle to comprehend the normal distribution due to a lack of basic number sense. Students get confused about the order and magnitude of negative z-scores on a standard normal curve or when problems about normally distributed random variables are presented in word questions which involve phrases that indicate inequalities. As a result, students shade wrong areas on the bell-shaped curve when they have to calculate probabilities for normally distributed variables. Visual representations such as the number …