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Quantitative Literacy

Resources on quantitative literacy as a goal of mathematics education

Michael C. Burke, A Mathematician's Proposal
A mathematician argues that quantitative reasoning be incorporated into writing programs...
Join the conversation with other college mathematics and statistics professors...

Lynn Arthur Steen, "Everything I Needed to Know About Averages ... I Learned in College"--The case for Quantitative Literacy

Lynn Arthur Steen, Achieving Balance in Mathematics

Grant Wiggins, Assessing for Quantitative Literacy

Jan de Lange, Mathematics for Literacy

Arnold Packer, What Mathematics Should Everyone Know?

Arnold Packer, Making Mathematics Meaningful

Lynn Arthur Steen writes:

“Although numeracy depends on familiar mathematical topics from arithmetic, algebra, and geometry, its natural framework is commonly described in broader terms. Some are foundational, focused on learned skills and procedures:

Practical Skills: Using elementary mathematics in a wide variety of common situations.

Confidence with Mathematics: Being comfortable with numbers and at ease in applying quantitative methods

Number Sense: Estimating with confidence; employing common sense about numbers; exhibiting accurate intuition about measurements

Mathematics in Context: Using mathematical tools in settings in which the context provides both meaning and performance expectations

Prerequisite Knowledge: Using a wide range of algebraic, geometric, and statistical tools that are required for many fields of postsecondary education

Other elements of numeracy live on a higher cognitive plateau and represent capacities as useful and ingrained as reading and speaking:

Interpreting Data: Reasoning with data, reading graphs, drawing inferences, and recognizing sources of error

Making Decisions: Using logical and quantitative methods to solve problems and make decisions in everyday life

Symbol Sense: Employing, reading, and interpreting mathematical symbols with ease; exhibiting good sense about their syntax and grammar

Thinking Logically: Analyzing evidence, reasoning carefully, understanding arguments, questioning assumptions, detecting fallacies, and evaluating risks

Cultural Appreciation: Understanding the nature and history of mathematics, its role in scientific inquiry and technological progress, and its importance for comprehending issues in the public realm

Whereas the mathematics curriculum historically has focused on school-based knowledge, numeracy involves mathematics acting in the world. Typical numeracy challenges involve real data and uncertain procedures but require primarily elementary mathematics. In contrast, typical school mathematics problems involve simplified numbers and straightforward procedures but require sophisticated abstract concepts. The test of numeracy, as of any literacy, is whether a person naturally uses appropriate skills in many different contexts. “

Source: Lynn Arthur Steen, “Data, Shapes, Symbols: Achieving Balance in School Mathematics,”  in Quantitative Literacy: Why Numeracy Matters in Schools and Colleges

This web maintained by Philip E. Bishop, professor of humanities,
and Patrick Nellis, Office of Teaching and Learning Support (TLS),
Valencia Community College, Orlando, FL.

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Last update: November 01, 2007