Quantitative Literacy at Michigan State University, 3: Designing General Education Mathematics Courses

Numeracy, Jul 2016

In this paper, we describe the process at Michigan State University whereby we have created two courses, Math 101 and 102, designed to foster numeracy and alleviate mathematics anxiety. The courses--which are not sequential--provide a means of satisfying the University's general education requirement without taking college algebra or calculus, among other options. They are context-driven and broken into modules such as "The World and Its People" and "Health and Risk." They have been highly successful thus far, with students providing positive feedback on their interest in the material and the utility they see of it in their daily lives. We include background on the courses

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Quantitative Literacy at Michigan State University, 3: Designing General Education Mathematics Courses

Quantitative Literacy at Michigan State University, 3: Designing General Education Mathematics Courses Vincent Melfi 0 Samuel L. Tunstall 0 Michigan State University 0 Michigan State University , USA Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons; Scholarship of Teaching and Learning - Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License Cover Page Footnote Samuel Luke Tunstall is a graduate student in mathematics education and University Distinguished Fellow at Michigan State University. His interests include the sociology of mathematics education and the ways in which mathematics courses can promote numeracy. He began working on MSU’s QL curriculum development and assessment measures this year. Vincent Melfi is an associate professor of Statistics and director of the Program in Mathematics Education at Michigan State University. His research interests include the quantitative literacy of college students and adaptive allocation in clinical trials. He conducted preliminary assessments of QL on MSU’s campus and has led the team of curriculum developers throughout its work. Jeffrey Craig is a PhD Candidate in mathematics education at Michigan State University. His research interests include affective dimensions in epistemology and in transformative learning with quantitative literacy as a vehicle for that transformation. He worked on the design team for the courses, as well as teaching the pilot courses last summer, fall, and this spring. Abe Edwards is an academic specialist in the mathematics department at Lyman Briggs College within Michigan State University. His research interests include quantitative literacy as well as improving interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematics and science educators at the undergraduate level. His work on the QL project included designing the curriculum and piloting lessons, particularly with respect to health and risk. Andrew Krause is a graduate student in mathematics education at Michigan State University and academic specialist in the University’s Mathematics Department. His research interests include quantitative literacy and the nature of students’ experiences in undergraduate mathematics classrooms. He worked on the design team for the courses, as well as teaching the pilot courses last summer, fall, and this spring. Bronlyn Wassink is a teaching specialist in the Mathematics Department at Michigan State University. Her research interests are Mathematics Education, Geometric Group Theory, and Applied Statistics. Her work on this project stemmed from being the course coordinator and lead instructor for MSU's Quantitative Literacy courses. Victor Piercey is an associate professor of mathematics at Ferris State University. He is interested in the impact of curriculum and instruction reform on math anxiety and other affective measures. He served on the committee that established the quantitative literacy project during his time as a graduate student at Michigan State University. Introduction The value of quantitative literacy (QL) for college graduates is well documented. Numbers—whether on social media, at the doctor’s office, or in one’s finances— inundate students’ lives, and the decisions they make in interacting with them have a cumulative impact on their risk comprehension (Fagerlin et al. 2007; Lipkus and Peters 2009) , income level (Eide and Grogger 1995; Levy et al. 1995; Rivera-Batiz 1992) , and decision-making ability (Jasper et al. 2013), among other things. In tandem with a 2005 University Task Force’s recommendations, these effects comprise the rationale for creating a set of quantitative literacy courses, Math 101 and 102, at Michigan State University (MSU). These courses are quite distinct from traditional ones that students in college might encounter; they are not vehicles for teaching “watered-down” mathematics, but rather contain context-driven, engaging, and pragmatic content, and the courses’ structure was chosen to counter mathematics anxiety. In this paper, we detail the creation process of the courses and the positive impact on attitude we have observed thus far. We also discuss MSU’s QL program in relation to programs at other universities, and some of the challenges in implementing quantitative literacy courses especially at large institutions. We conclude by suggesting how the lessons we have learned might guide others as they create or modify QL programs in their own institutions. Background on MSU Michigan State University is a large, public land-grant institution that—as of 2016—serves roughly 39,000 undergraduate students. Before the introduction of the quantitative literacy courses, the general education mathematics requirement required that all undergraduates either complete or place out of college algebra, as well as take a course beyond college algebra such as calculus or statistics. Students must place into the courses they want to take, so if (for instan (...truncated)


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Samuel L Tunstall, Vincent Melfi, Jeffrey Craig, Richard Edwards, Andrew Krause, Bronlyn Wassink, Victor Piercey. Quantitative Literacy at Michigan State University, 3: Designing General Education Mathematics Courses, Numeracy, 2016, Volume 9, Issue 2,