ERIC Number: EJ981327
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0024-1822
EISSN: N/A
Achieving a Quantitatively Literate Citizenry: Resources and Community to Support National Change
Grawe, Nathan D.
Liberal Education, v98 n2 p30-35 Spr 2012
In the National Council on Education and the Disciplines' (NCED) 2001 Mathematics and Democracy, Lynn Steen vividly declares, "The world of the twenty-first century is a world awash in numbers". In that volume, Steen and his collaborators articulate a clear call for broad reforms to prepare students for the ubiquitous need for quantitative literacy (QL)--in citizenship, education, professional life, personal finance and health, and even culture. While built on a foundation of mathematical skill, the QL needed by the students is distinct from traditional mathematics in several key dimensions. Where mathematics is intentionally abstract, QL drives toward the specific context of problems. At the end of 2001, the NCED, along with the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the Mathematical Sciences Education Board, hosted a forum on QL that arrived at the following stark findings: (1) Most higher education students graduated without sufficient QL training; (2) faculty in all disciplines needed professional development support to enhance QL in their courses; (3) QL was not part of assessment activity; and (4) education policy leaders were insufficiently aware of the increasing need for QL. Fortunately, over the last decade, groups like the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), the MAA's Special Interest Group on QL (SIGMAA-QL), and the National Numeracy Network (NNN) have worked diligently to address these gaps. This article presents a brief description of the newly developed resources such as the materials that can support curricular development in all divisions of the academy, assessment tools that match a range of definitions of quantitative literacy, and a robust community to come alongside institutions that are taking action.
Descriptors: Colleges, Numeracy, Educational Change, Democracy, Citizenship, Mathematics, Mathematics Skills, Higher Education, College Students, Mathematics Curriculum
Association of American Colleges and Universities. 1818 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. Tel: 800-297-3775; Tel: 202-387-3760; Fax: 202-265-9532; e-mail: pub_desk@aacu.org; Web site: http://www.aacu.org/publications/index.cfm
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A