Education Commons^™

Reorganizing School Mathematics For Quantitative Literacy, Rick Gillman

Numeracy

This paper offers an alternative curriculum for high school mathematics. It proposes replacing the Algebra-Geometry-Algebra rush to calculus model with one which focuses on improving student problem-solving skills and general quantitative literacy skills while reinforcing basic manipulative skills. Most of these goals are gained by expanding the current single-year algebra-one course into two years. The model proposes moving “learning to write proofs” from the traditional geometry course into a separate discrete mathematics course. It requires statistics for every student, and requires a senior-level modeling course for every college-going student. In addition, the proposed model creates opportunities for students to move …

Quantitative Reasoning In The Contemporary World, 2: Focus Questions For The Numeracy Community, Bernard L. Madison, Shannon W. Dingman

Numeracy

Numerous questions about student learning of quantitative reasoning arose as we developed, taught and assessed the Quantitative Reasoning in the Contemporary World course described in the companion paper in this issue of Numeracy. In this paper, we present some of those questions and describe the context in which they arose. They fall into eight general problem areas: learning that is context-bound and does not easily transfer (i.e., situated learning); the need for a productive disposition regarding mathematics; the connection between QL and mathematical proficiency; the persistence of students, despite our efforts, for using the wrong base for percents; the inconsistent …

Quantitative Reasoning In The Contemporary World, 1: The Course And Its Challenges:, Shannon W. Dingman, Bernard L. Madison

Numeracy

The authors describe successes and challenges in developing a QL-friendly course at the University of Arkansas. This work is part of a three-year NSF project Quantitative Reasoning in the Contemporary World (QRCW) that supported the expansion of the course. The course, MATH 2183, began experimentally in Fall 2004 as a section of finite mathematics known informally as “News Math” for 26 students from arts and humanities disciplines. Over the past six years, the course has evolved and now MATH 2183 is approved to satisfy the College of Arts and Sciences mathematics requirement for the Bachelor of Arts degree. In 2009-2010, …

Quantitative Literacy: Does It Work? Evaluation Of Student Outcomes At Colby-Sawyer College, Benjamin Steele, Semra Kilic-Bahi

Numeracy

Colby-Sawyer College has adopted a mission for quantitative literacy (QL) to give students the “necessary skills to understand and use quantitative information in their personal and professional lives.” We have implemented an across-the-curriculum approach to develop these skills. As part of this QL program, we administer two assessment tests, one in basic mathematical skills and one that applies those skills, plus an attitude survey to both freshmen and seniors. Three years of data show that seniors score about 10 percentage points higher than freshmen on these tests. However, seniors still scored below 55 percent on both tests, and many cannot …

Advancing Assessment Of Quantitative And Scientific Reasoning, Donna L. Sundre, Amy D. Thelk

Numeracy

Advancing Assessment of Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning is a four-year NSF Project (DUE-0618599) in part designed to evaluate the generalizability of quantitative (QR) and scientific reasoning (SR) assessment instruments created at James Madison University to four other four-year institutions with very distinct missions and student demographics. This article describes the methods, results, and findings we obtained in our studies. More specifically, we describe how to conduct content-alignment exercises in which faculty members map each item from a prospective test to the student learning objectives taught at the institution. Our results indicated that 92-100% of the QR and SR items were …

Science Literacy: Hand In Glove With Numeracy, Gerry G. Meisels

Numeracy

Science Literacy requires numeracy as part of its foundation, and much of Numeracy draws on examples and applications from the sciences. They share the goal of creating a society that is mathematics numerate and science literate, and are interrelated. National priorities to strengthen both among all our students are driven by practical considerations of economic competitiveness that increasingly depend on technological innovation. It is also critical to each individual for long-term job opportunities and for informed citizenship. With up to 80% of 21st century jobs requiring mathematics and science skills, a large majority of the 2,900,000 students who graduate from …

Using Ning For Conversation Partner Networks, Krista Bittenbender Royal

INTO Faculty and Staff Publications

Providing opportunities for conversation practice is one way that an IEP can help students improve their English as well as enhance their engagement in the language learning process. However, matching individual language learners to fluent English speakers can be difficult and time consuming. This workshop will introduce participants involved in setting up such interactions to Ning, a free online social networking platform which can facilitate the creation of individualized networks. Participants will gain insights into how one IEP used Ning to connect ELLs to university students interested in having conversation partners.

La Vida En La Ficción Como Forma De Reescritura De La Historia Oficial En La Novela Caballeros De Fortuna De Luis Landero, Maria Elena Arroyo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we will study Luis Landero's Novel, Caballeros de fortuna, specifically the creation by the characters of an alternate life that they create through fiction. As a result of a failed life that resembles the effect of the years that Spain experienced Francisco Franco's dictatorial regime, these characters, unable to fight insecurity and rootlessness produced by the society of this era, become victims of utopian desires that result in the creation of an alternative life lived in fiction. At the same time, we can observe how this life style leads to the emergence of a critical study …

Systematic Development And Validation Of A Course Of Instruction In Prior Learning Assessment, John D. Mcnally

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many post-secondary schools across the country offer adult working students an opportunity to obtain at least partial credit for work and life experiences in their curriculum through portfolios. The primary goal of this project was to design, develop and evaluate a portfolio course for adult students at a small independent university. Design emphasized adult learning theory and incorporated instructional design best practices throughout. Also significant to the design was the implementation of the Quality Matters ™ Rubric. The project focus was to intertwine the six assumptions of adult learning theory while implementing best practices and effective instructional strategies, and to …

The Dynamic Graphic Organizer And Its Influence On Making Factual, Comparative, And Inferential Determinations Within Comparative Content, Cameron Spears

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

By augmenting an existing static medium (a graphic organizer) with attributes such that learners were able to sort or rearrange information in multiple ways, two new types of “dynamic” graphic organizers were created. An experiment was performed to investigate the effectiveness of these dynamic graphic organizers as instructional tools. One-hundred-sixty-one students were recruited for participation in the study from a two-year community college and a four-year public university in the southeast United States. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three graphic organizer treatment groups: static, sortable, and shuffle-sortable. Response accuracy and response latency measurements for three types of mental …

Student Government Constitution - Updated 05-10-10, Adam Aldridge

Legislative Branch Publications

No abstract provided.

Shamanism, Spiritual Transformation And The Ethical Obligations Of The Dying Person: A Narrative Approach, Ellen W. Klein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The person experiencing chronic or protracted illness is confronted with a complex array of physical, emotional and spiritual trials. This thesis explores how chronic illness can be viewed through the lens of the shamanic experience of dismemberment and re-memberment and shows how clinical, narrative, and relational models on their own are insufficient to speak meaningfully to illness experiences, but the integration of aspects of each of these models when coupled with shamanic initiation experience creates an innovative model for patients and those with whom they are in relationship.

Organizational Information Markets: Conceptual Foundation And An Approach For Software Project Risk Management, Areej M. Yassin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs both design science and behavioral science research paradigms to investigate an emerging form of technology-enabled human collective intelligence known as information markets. This work establishes a conceptual foundation for the study of organizational information markets and the design and use processes of information markets inside organizations.

This research conceptualizes markets from an information systems perspective and presents an information systems research framework for organizational information markets. This work develops a systems theory of information markets to facilitate investigation of the relationships and interactions between markets as systems and their context of use. It proposes a structuration model …

Experiences Of Foreign Language Teachers And Students Using A Technology-Mediated Oral Assessment, Jeannie Ducher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of the speaking skill at the lower levels of proficiency is seldom assessed as a matter-of-fact in the foreign language classroom, for reasons of impracticality and difficulty of implementation. Although the practice of the speaking skill is an important part of current approaches to the teaching of foreign languages, issues of time and logistics often prohibit the direct evaluation of the skill in a manner consistent with best practices, which purport that practice and assessment must be closely aligned, and that students benefit from self-evaluation and teacher feedback. Classroom research has shown that a skill that is not …

Understanding Organizational Adoption Theories Through The Adoption Of A Disruptive Innovation: Five Cases Of Open Source Software, Delmer Nagy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand how organizations adopt a disruptive technology, open source software. Five cross-sectional case studies at municipal governments were performed using a theoretical model based off of eight organizational adoption theories. Results of the case studies highlight how each construct from each theory was present at the organizations. However each construct was of variable influence based upon organizational characteristics and the time or stage of adoption.

Spelling Errors In Children With Autism, Khalyn I. Wiggins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to examine the spelling errors of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when asked to spell morphologically complex words. Specifically, this study sought to determine if percent accuracy across morphological areas would be similar to patterns noted in typical developing children, correlate with participant age, and correlate to performance on standardized measures of achievement. Additionally, the study wanted to highlight the types of errors made by children with ASD on homonyms and the specific linguistic patterns noted when spelling derivational and inflectional word types.

Participants included 29 children diagnosed with Autism, PDD-NOS, and Asperger’s …

Designing Successful Online Courses - Part 2, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Once again, our major goal is to provide faculty with consistent guidance through the many instructional decisions and design steps they need to pursue in this process. This process is a fantastic opportunity to craft a virtual learning space in which people can engaging in learning beyond the constraints of time and space.

Five Strategies For Successful Writing Of Reports And Essays, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Many people cannot get started with their literary projects because they do not know where to start. In this brief article, I share insight from years of teaching students and professionals of all ages how to prepare professional work.

Developing A Culturally Responsive Literacy Pedagogy: Preservice Teachers, Teaching Cases, And Postcard Narratives, Annmarie Alberton Gunn

USF St. Petersburg Campus Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Education Law Association, Zorka Karanxha

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Hunt V. Mcnair, Zorka Karanxha

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Annual Report 2009-2010, University Of South Florida. College Of Education

College of Education Publications

No abstract provided.

Revelations Of Adaptive Technology Hiding In Your Operating System, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Pre-publication version of a chapter about the assistive technology tools and resources available for free in Windows OS and Mac OS. Introducing higher education faculty to free resources, features and programs which they can recommend to their students or perhaps use for themselves (for instance for fading eyesight or hearing). In addition, the chapter briefly shares strategies and examples of how they might be used.

The book will have an entire chapter dedicated to assistive technology as well. This is a popularized assistive technology chapter for generalist, NON special education, faculty to become acquainted with readily available and free resources. …

Creating The Credit Il Course In A University Setting., Catherine A. Cardwell, Colleen Boff

USF St. Petersburg Campus Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How Prepared Are Students For College Level Reading? Applying A Lexile[R]-Based Approach., Chuck Wilkins, Jenifer J. Hartman, Noelle Howland, Nitin Sharma

USF St. Petersburg Campus Faculty Publications

This study develops and documents a new methodology that uses the Lexile Framework[R] for Reading to determine the proportion of grade 11 Texas public school students whose scores on the exit-level Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills for English language arts and reading (TAKS-ELAR) or the TAKS-ELAR Accommodated indicate the ability to read and comprehend textbooks used in entry-level (freshman) English courses in the University of Texas system. The findings show that at the 75 percent comprehension level, 51 percent of students can read 95 percent of first-year English textbooks used in entry-level classes in the University of Texas system, …

Are Texas' English Language Arts And Reading Standards College Ready?, Eric Rolfhus, Gary Cook, Jessica Brite, Jenifer J. Hartman

USF St. Petersburg Campus Faculty Publications

This study compares alignment of the ACT and the American Diploma Project (ADP) national college readiness standards sets with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English language arts and reading (TEKS ELAR) standards for grades 9-12 and analyzes their cognitive complexity. It finds that a majority of the content in the ACT and ADP standards sets is addressed to some extent by the TEKS ELAR standards and that the TEKS ELAR standards demand higher levels of cognitive complexity than do the other two standards sets. The study has two key limitations. First, the definition of partial alignment was very …

Introduction To Public Librarianship, Kathleen De La Peña Mccook

School of Information Faculty Publications

Preface Public libraries in the United States of America are in their third century of service as the heart of communities throughout the nation. Our public libraries are our public sphere open to all who desire to use their services—both as cultural spaces and as virtual services. The literature of public librarianship is extensive, but it is also dispersed among many specializations such as management, information technology,youth services, and community planning. In truth, public librarianship incorporates all of these specializations, just as public librarians work to serve all people—all backgrounds, all ethnicities, all ages, all religions or no religion, all …

Parts Of The Whole: Observing The State Of The System, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This column draws on the approach of statistician J. Edwards Deming to analyze sources and consequences of variation in an education system. Educational systems are not immune from the effects of poor statistical control, which makes it difficult for teachers to teach effectively and for managers such as principals to improve on school performance. It is also argued that the need for statistical control in these areas is in tension, if not outright conflict, with our goals for educating students.

Two Popular Books For Quantitative Literacy: What The Numbers Say, And The Numbers Game, Robert G. Root

Numeracy

Niederman, Derrick, and Boyum, David. What the Numbers Say: A Field Guide to Mastering Our Numerical World. (New York: Broadway Books/Random House, 2003). 288 pp. Hardcover, ISBN 978-0-7679-0998-3. Paperback, 978-0-7679-0999-0. Available as an eBook.

Blastland, Michael, and Dilnot, Andrew. The Numbers Game: The Commonsense Guide to Understanding Numbers in the News, in Politics and in Life. (New York: Gotham Books/Penguin, 2009). 192 pp. Hardcover, ISBN 978-1-5924-0423-0. Paperback, ISBN 978-1-5924-0485-8. Available as an eBook.

Popular books on quantitative literacy need to be easy to read, reasonably comprehensive in scope, and include examples that are thought-provoking and memorable. In contrast …

Numeracy: Open-Access Publishing To Reduce The Cost Of Scholarly Journals, Todd A. Chavez

Numeracy

Each fiscal year, as academic librarians throughout the United States prepare materials budgets, a national “groan” ensues. Regardless of their format (i.e. print or digital), serial subscription costs are escalating, in the process impacting the role of the library in advancing scholarly communication . This paper examines some of the economic issues concerning open-access (OA) journal publishing. The importance of quantitative literacy is suggested for librarians and academics seeking a better understanding of alternatives to traditional journal subscription models and to anyone considering ventures into OA publishing. Quantitative literacy is essential for managing alternatives to the rising cost of scholarly …