Adapting to a New Core Curriculum at Hood College: From Computation to Quantitative Literacy

Self Cite

In a previous article, we described our college's new core curriculum, which included a Quantitative Literacy (QL) component for the first time. We explained how we defined QL in the college catalog, and how we used that definition to choose courses to satisfy the new requirement. We then discussed our early efforts at assessing the effectiveness of the QL program and described our plans for the future. Here we report on our progress towards those goals, including working with faculty from other departments and with our institutional research office to develop a more sophisticated assessment plan, as well as creating and implementing easier-to-use surveys and assessment instruments.

Section: Advanced (Our Dream)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three years ago, we reported in this journal on Hood College's new core curriculum and its inclusion of a Quantitative Literacy (QL) component (Mayfield and Dunham 2015). We described our first efforts at assessment of the program by asking three types of questions:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Literacy in the Core Curriculum of Hood College: Chapter II, Outcomes and Assessment

Mayfield¹,

Stewart²

2019

Self Cite

“…Some articles published by this journal demonstrate this ability to mitigate math anxiety through modest teaching innovations (Wismath and Worrell 2015;Lipka and Hess 2016;Follett et al 2017). Of course, not all such interventions produced the desired results (Sundre et al 2012;Mayfield and Dunham 2015).…”

Section: Quantitative Literacy In the Affective Domainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative Literacy in the Affective Domain: Computational Geology Students’ Reactions to Devlin’s The Math Instinct

Ricchezza¹,

Vacher²

2017

Building on suggestions from alumni from a recent interview project, students in Computational Geology at the University of South Florida were tasked with reading a popular non-fiction book on mathematics and writing about the book and their feelings about math. The book, The Math Instinct by Keith Devlin, was chosen because we believed it would give the students something interesting to write about and not because we had any expectations in particular about what it might reveal about or do for their math anxiety. The nature of the responses received from the students led to the performance of a post-hoc study on the emotional affect of math in the students' lives and how it changed as they proceeded through the book and reflected back on it at the end. Of the 28 students in the fall 2016 section of the course, 25 had an improved or slightly improved attitude toward math by the end of the semester. The assignment was more successful than we could anticipate at generating thought and getting students to communicate about math -an integral component of quantitative literacy. Although the limited size and post hoc nature of the study make it difficult to generalize, the results are promising and invite further use of the assignment in the course.

“…Spreadsheets are known to enhance quantitative reasoning and have been implemented in a variety of courses as noted in numerous papers in this journal (e.g., Steele and Kiliç-Bahi 2008, Gaze 2010, Vacher and Lardner 2010, Frith 2012, Lehto and Vacher 2012, Mayfield and Dunham 2015, Ricchezza and Vacher 2017.…”

Section: The Role Of Excelmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Quantitative Reasoning Approach to Algebra Using Inquiry-Based Learning

Piercey¹

2017

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 moves. A quantitative reasoning approach to traditional algebraic manipulations rests on intentional and purposeful use of simplification and solving moves within contextual situations. In part 2, I describe a 6-week instructional module intended for undergraduate business students that was delivered to students who had placed into beginning algebra. The perspective described in part 1 heavily informed the design of this module. The course materials, which involve the use of Excel in multiple authentic contexts, are built around the use of inquiry-based learning. Upon completion of this module, the percentage of students who successfully complete model problems in an assessment is in the same range as surveyed students in precalculus and calculus, approximately two "grade levels" ahead of their placement.