Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Measuring Habits Of Mind: Toward A Prompt-Less Instrument For Assessing Quantitative Literacy, Stuart Boersma, Dominic Klyve Jan 2013

Measuring Habits Of Mind: Toward A Prompt-Less Instrument For Assessing Quantitative Literacy, Stuart Boersma, Dominic Klyve

Numeracy

In this study, we offer a new “prompt-less” instrument for measuring students’ habits of mind in the field of quantitative literacy. The instrument consists of a series of questions about a newspaper article the students read. The questions do not explicitly solicit quantitative information; students’ habit of mind is assessed by their use of quantitative reasoning even when it is not asked for. Students’ answers were graded according to a modified version of the Quantitative Literacy Assessment Rubric (QLAR) published in this journal (vol. 4, issue 2). We applied the instrument and rubric to assess pre- and post-intervention habits of …


Using A Media-Article Approach To Quantitative Reasoning As An Honors Course: An Exploratory Study, Stuart Boersma, Dominic Klyve Jan 2013

Using A Media-Article Approach To Quantitative Reasoning As An Honors Course: An Exploratory Study, Stuart Boersma, Dominic Klyve

Numeracy

In this study, we investigate student performance on a basic skills assessment of percentages and ratios in two cohorts of students: the general (non-STEM) student body (cohort G) and (non-STEM) honors students (cohort H). Both cohorts used a media-article approach to the study of quantitative reasoning. A pre- and a post-intervention assessment were administered with a two-week intervention period consisting of critical analyses of the use of percentages and ratios in media articles. Using non-parametric techniques, no statistically significant improvement was measured in cohort G while cohort H students showed statistically significant improvement on several items.


The Scope Of Numeracy After Five Years, H. L. Vacher, Dorothy Wallace Jan 2013

The Scope Of Numeracy After Five Years, H. L. Vacher, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

The purpose of this editorial is to provide an efficient way for readers and potential authors to see (a) what type of papers are published in this journal and (b) what subjects are appropriate. The editorial consists mainly of about a dozen pages of tables including live links to the papers’ access/abstract pages to facilitate easy browsing. In the first table, the 85 papers that have been published in the journal’s first five years are classified into: review papers; research papers; case studies; essays; book reviews; columns; and editorials about the journal. In the second table, the papers are inventoried …