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SIGMAA-QL NewsletterMAA Special Interest Group on Quantitative Literacy Volume 11, March 2019
A Note from the Editor
by Mark Branson
After a brief hiatus, I’m happy to announce thisnewest issue of the SIGMAA-QL newsletter. AsCommunications Officer for the SIGMAA, I’ll be col-lecting articles, reviews, and event notices through-out the year to publish for the benefit of our member-ship. If you have anything that you’d like to have in-cluded in the newsletter, please reach out to me at the
email address below. We’re happy to share any itemsyou have which may be of interest to the broadercommunity - reports on courses or projects, curricu-lum materials, requests for papers, or conference an-nouncements - or anything else you might have toshare.
Thank you for reading and thank you for partici-pating in the SIGMAA-QL!
Mark BransonStevenson [email protected]
Editorial: Has the Mission of SIGMAAQL Grown?
by Victor Piercey
In 2014, SIGMAA QL turned 10 years old. We held apanel and discussed all of the ways quantitative liter-
acy has “grown up” as well as ways our communityof practice has broadened. More recently, the MAApublished a volume of MAA Notes edited by LukeTunstall, Gizem Karaali, and I in which the chapterauthors show that while the contexts for quantitativeliteracy have evolved, the core of what quantitative
Contents of this volume:
A Note from the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Editorial: Has the Mission of SIGMAA QL
Grown? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1An Inspiring Talk on Quantitative Literacy in
the Era of Alternative Facts . . . . . . . . . . 2
Update on Mathematics for Social Justice: Re-sources for the College Classroom . . . . . . 3
Book Announcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4National Numeracy Network Meeting 2018 . . 4Reflections on the Contributed Paper Session
on Innovative Pathways to Quantitative Lit-eracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Recent and Upcoming Events . . . . . . . . . . 5
SIGMAA-QL News Vol. 11, March 2019
literacy means and what it is has remained stable.This observation — the expansion of the audienceand settings for quantitative literacy together withthe stability of the core of the meaning of quantita-tive literacy — challenges the SIGMAA to considerwhether our mission needs to similarly grow.
In addition, the perception of quantitative liter-acy remains problematic. Quantitative literacy is per-ceived by many in the mathematical community as aclass that serves as an alternative to college algebra,not as a framework for habits of mind that appliesjust as much to students completing calculus — oreven a mathematics major — to students who are sat-isfying a university requirement. Often, mathemati-cians think quantitative literacy is the class that is forthose who “can’t do serious math.”
According to our charter, the mission of SIGMAAQL is:
Quantitative literacy (QL) can be described as the abil-ity to adequately use elementary mathematical tools to in-terpret and manipulate quantitative data and ideas thatarise in individuals’ private, civic, and work lives. Likereading and writing literacy, quantitative literacy is ahabit of mind that is best formed by exposure in many con-texts. While developing a quantitatively literate citizenryis the responsibility of a much larger community, it is theobligation of the collegiate level mathematics communityto take leadership in (a) identifying the prerequisite mathe-matical skills for QL, (b) finding innovative ways of devel-oping and implementing QL curricula, (c) assisting col-leagues in other disciplines to infuse appropriate QL expe-riences into their courses, and (d) stimulating the nationaldialogue concerning QL. The purpose of this SIGMAA isto provide a structure within the mathematics communityto achieve these goals.
The question I raise is whether this needs updat-ing in light of both a growth in the need for quan-titative literacy, and more generally evidence-basedreasoning, as well as the perception of quantitativeliteracy as a class for non-STEM majors.
As an example, consider the movement towardsconnecting mathematics to social justice. There is
a growing community of mathematicians dedicatedto incorporating social justice themes into the class-room at all levels. The journal PRIMUS will soonpublish a special issue about mathematics and socialjustice. Gizem Karaali and Lilia Khadjavi are editinga volume of MAA Classroom Resources on Math-ematics and Social Justice for which there were somany quality submissions, the volume is being splitinto two volumes. At the 2019 JMM, Dave Kung andKira Hamman delivered a guest lecture for SIGMAAQL about quantitative literacy in the era of alterna-tive facts that drew the largest crowd a SIGMAA QLevent has drawn in at least 7 years.
In addition to using mathematics for social jus-tice, there are also social justice issues for the fieldof mathematics. At the 2019 JMM, Pamela Harrisand Edray Goins delivered two different invited ple-naries related to the role of race and ethnicity inthe mathematics profession. More recently, Edraywas featured in a front-page New York Times articleabout his experience as an African American mathe-matician at a large research-oriented university.
For us in SIGMAA QL, this raises an importantquestion: what is the relationship between social jus-tice and quantitative literacy? Is social justice anexample of a context for quantitative literacy, or isquantitative literacy one of many means to achievesocial justice? How should this impact our missionas a SIGMAA? Perhaps our mission adequately in-cludes social justice and equity. Perhaps those mat-ters are independent and deserve their own SIG-MAA. Perhaps the problem with the perception ofquantitative literacy means our mission as written ismore important than ever. But perhaps not. In lightof these questions, I invite you to join us for a townhall meeting at MathFest 2019 in Cincinnati. Lookfor the event in the conference schedule and comeand share your thoughts.
Victor PierceyFerris State [email protected]
An Inspiring Talk on QuantitativeLiteracy in the Era of Alternative Facts
by Mark Branson
During the 2019 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Balti-more, the SIGMAA-QL invited Kira Hamman (PennState University) and Dave Kung (St. Mary’s Col-
lege, Maryland) to speak on the necessity of Quanti-tative Literacy education in the current political cli-mate. Kira and Dave delivered an excellent talk toa packed room, even during the coveted 6:00-6:45Thursday evening time slot.
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SIGMAA-QL News Vol. 11, March 2019
Figure 1: Kira Hamman and Dave Kung answeringaudience questions.
They described their talk as falling in the inter-section of Quantitative Literacy/Reasoning and So-cial Justice, and spoke about their efforts to developquantitative literacy resources focused on the mathe-matics needed by citizens (and non-cititzens, as anaudience member pointed out) to participate in arepresentative democracy. By providing our stu-dents with the mathematics needed to understandthe complex quantitative information present in ourlives today, they posited, we could build a better andmore equitable society.
Kira and Dave also raised the provocative ques-tion - “Who is left out at your institution?” Al-though we tend to focus on providing quantitativeliteracy tools to students in the liberal arts, we maybe ignoring the needs of many other populations,including students from underrepresented popula-tions, students with conservative views, and even
STEM majors. While these students may be learningquantitative skills, they are not necessarily learningthe specific quantitative tools they need to processquantitative information in a social justice context.
They also discussed the dichotomy between ped-agogies based on authority and those based on au-tonomy. By encouraging intellectual autonomy inthe classroom, we can model the kinds of behav-iors we hope students will use outside the classroom.We can also provide them with better tools to detect“fake news” by de-emphasizing the role of authorityin constructing knowledge.
Figure 2: A large crowd attended the session.
Kira and Dave’s notes from the talk are postedon the SIGMAA QL website, if you’re interested inlearning more.
Mark BransonStevenson [email protected]
Update on Mathematics for Social Justice:Resources for the College Classroom
by Gizem Karaali
In the 2014 newsletter we had announced a bookproject on mathematics and social justice resourcesfor the college classroom. The project gathered muchinterest from the community and as a result the orig-inal plan was revised and now there are two booksin the making. What’s even more exciting: thefirst volume is finally on its way! Edited by GizemKaraali (Pomona College) and Lily S. Khadjavi (Loy-ola Marymount University Los Angeles), Mathemat-ics for Social Justice: Resources for the College Class-room is expected to appear in 2019 from the Ameri-can Mathematical Society’s imprint, The MAA Press.
The volume offers a collection of resources for math-ematics faculty interested in incorporating questionsof social justice into their classrooms. It begins witha series of essays from instructors experienced in in-tegrating social justice themes into their pedagogy;these essays contain political and pedagogical mo-tivations as well as nuts-and-bolts teaching advice.The heart of the book is a collection of fourteenclassroom-tested modules featuring ready-to-use ac-tivities and investigations for the college mathemat-ics classroom. The mathematical tools and tech-niques used are relevant to a wide variety of coursesincluding college algebra, math for the liberal arts,calculus, differential equations, discrete mathemat-ics, geometry, financial mathematics, and combina-torics. The social justice themes include human traf-
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SIGMAA-QL News Vol. 11, March 2019
ficking, income inequality, policing, environmentalracism and justice, gerrymandering, voting methods,and access to education.
The second volume, titled Mathematics for So-cial Justice: Focusing on Quantitative Reasoning andStatistics, is also in the works. Expect to see that one
on the shelves in 2020!
Gizem KaraaliPomona [email protected]
Book Announcement
Shifting Contexts, Stable Core: AdvancingQuantitative Literacy in Higher Education
Tunstall, Karaali, & Piercey (2019)
One of the benefits of MAA membership is access toits diverse array of publications. A new book thatSIGMAA QL members should check out is ShiftingContexts, Stable Core: Advancing Quantitative Literacyin Higher Education, edited by Luke Tunstall, GizemKaraali, and Victor Piercey. As part of the MAA’sNotes series, the volume includes chapters from awide range of scholars involved in quantitative lit-eracy in higher education—both veteran and new—and spans a number of topics centered around quan-titative literacy such as assessment, curriculum, in-stitutional matters, policy, and theory, among oth-
ers. Luke, Gizem, and Victor began working withauthors in 2016 on the volume, and are excited to seethe publication finally in print. Be sure to check itout when you have time! Additionally, time permit-ting, consider contributing to publications like this inthe future, or in related journals such as Numeracy orProblems, Resources, and Issues in Mathematics Under-graduate Studies (PRIMUS).
BibliographyTunstall, Luke, Karaali, Gizem, and Piercey, Victor (editors) (2019)
Shifting Contexts, Stable Core: Advancing Quantitative Liter-acy in Higher Education MAA Press, Washington, DC
Luke TunstallTrinity [email protected]
National Numeracy Network Meeting2018
by Luke Tunstall
The 2018 meeting of the National Numeracy Net-work (NNN) took place October 12-14 at Michi-gan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michi-gan. With keynote talks from Gail Burrill (facultyat MSU and President of the International Asso-ciation for Statistical Education) and Ellen Peters(faculty at Ohio State University and Director ofits Decision Sciences Collaborative), as well as ap-proximately thirty presentations from folks acrossthe U.S., the conference fostered fruitful discussions
centered around numeracy and quantitative liter-acy. Though not completely finalized, the 2019 NNNmeeting will take place at Loyola Marymount Uni-versity in Los Angeles, California. Members ofSIGMAA-QL are encouraged to participate in theNNN, which is a network for folks from across thedisciplines (e.g., economics, psychology, education)and to contribute to its peer-reviewed journal, Nu-meracy.
Luke TunstallTrinity [email protected]
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Reflections on the Contributed PaperSession on Innovative Pathways toQuantitative Literacy
by Catherine Crockett
At JMM 2019, SIGMAA-QL co-sponsored a con-tributed paper session entitled “Innovative Path-ways to Quantitative Literacy” along with MAA’sCommittee on Articulation and Placement and sub-committee Curriculum Renewal Across the First TwoYears (CRAFTY). The paper session featured six talksthat described a variety of examples and ideas usedto explore quantitative literacy in general educationmathematics courses. Although the session was heldon the last day of the conference and there were re-ports of a winter storm moving quickly into the area,the session was well attended. The audience was at-tentive and asked thoughtful questions of the speak-ers. It has been over a month since the conferenceand I still find myself reflecting on what I learnedfrom the paper session. For me, there were threetakeaways from this session. The first two are: theimportance of engaging students through topics theycare about and making QL more accessible.
The importance of engaging studentsthrough topics they care about
Several of the speakers gave examples from inter-esting topics and discussed the impact on learning.For example, in Betty Love’s talk entitled, “Intro-duction to Mathematical and Computational Think-ing: A New Gen-Ed Math Course” she describedhow her new course is designed around visual pat-terns and the process of expressing these patternsinto algebraic expressions/algorithms. In one ex-ample, the students created an algorithm describ-ing an object, implemented the algorithm into Brick-layer code and then printed their object using a 3Dprinter. In Jennifer Anne BergnerâAZs talk entitled,“Building Quantitative Literacy through the Mathe-matics of Voting and Elections” she shared how ex-ploring aspects of voting methods engaged her stu-dents and developed their quantitative literacy skills.She gave several examples and demonstrated a freepolling app. In the talk entitled “Mathematics fora Sustainability: A General Education MathematicsCourse”, Russ deForest described a course he de-signed around the topic of sustainability. He sharedseveral examples illustrating skills such as commu-
nicating quantitative information in relevant terms;estimation and precision; and models of exponentialand logistic growth.
Making QL more accessible.
My second takeaway is how different instructorsand institutions are attempting to make quantitativeteaching and learning more accessible. In his talk en-titled, “Mathematical Modeling in the Liberal ArtsCourse”, Craig M. Johnson explained how he mademathematical modeling more accessible by using theWald method to do linear modeling of data. Heargued that this method is simpler than linear re-gression while still giving students the experience ofmathematical modeling. Vesna Kilibarda describedthe process her department is undertaking to im-prove education in their introductory courses in hertalk entitled “Active Collaborative Learning and Fac-ulty Development in Redesign of Introductory Math-ematics Course”. She described how they are re-designing their introductory courses by using peerto peer coaching to improve the accuracy of place-ment testing; a workshop to develop faculty teachingthese introductory courses; and a common assess-ment approach for these courses. Finally, an interest-ing challenge was shared by McKenzie Lamb in histalk entitled, “An Inclusive Framework for Quantita-tive Reasoning”. Lamb described how his intuitionis attempting a new approach to QR. He has beentasked with designing a QR course that, in theory,could be taught by any faculty member on campus.In the talk, he presented the idea of organizing thecourse content around the concept of numerical com-parisons and discussed the positive student feedbackon this new course. My final takeaway from this pa-pers session is
The QL community is amazing.
As I sat through the paper session, I thought abouthow wonderful it is to belong to a community thatis passionate about mathematics and care for thegrowth and development of our students. I amthankful for this community and what it has sharedwith me through the years. My hope is that we willcontinue to be passionate about mathematics, carefor our students’ development and strive to be an
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even more amazing community. Hope to see you atthe next paper session.
Catherine CrockettPoint Loma Nazarene [email protected]
Recent and Upcoming Events
MathFest 2019
Cincinnati, Ohio, 7/31/2019-8/3/2019
At the 2019 Joint Mathematics Meetings, Dave Kungand Kira Hamman called for a need to teach mathe-matics and quantitative literacy with an eye towardsocial justice. As part of their presentation, they notonly reiterated the importance of promoting quanti-tative literacy for social justice (and vice versa), butthey also pushed the audience to consider diverseand potentially divisive issues ranging from who“receives” quantitative literacy on their campus tohow students are positioned in mathematics class-rooms. Their remarks accentuate that the relation-ship between quantitative literacy and social justiceis complex, and that there is much for the mathemat-ics and quantitative literacy communities to consideras we teach in an era of alternative facts, duelingmemes, and politically charged classrooms.
SIGMAA-QL would like to invite all members ofthe mathematics community who are interested inissues of social justice as well as pathways towarda quantitatively literate society to a town hall dis-cussion at MathFest 2019 to follow up on some ofthese questions. In particular at this session we hope
to start a much needed conversation about the rolespeople of mathematics can play in promoting quan-titative literacy for social justice (and vice versa). Is-sues we would like to discuss range from teachingmathematics for social justice, to the role of QL incharting a path towards a more just society, to thefuture of SIGMAA-QL as an ambassador of mathe-maticians interested in these issues. The organizerswill come in with questions to initiate and facilitatethe conversation, but we invite everyone interestedto come and make their voices be heard.
The annual business meeting of the SIGMAA willalso be held at MathFest—all are welcome to attendand have a voice in planning for the next year!
Joint Mathematics Meetings 2020
Denver, Colorado, 1/15/2020-1/18/2020
The Joint Mathematics Meetings will be held in Den-ver, Colorado in 2020. We hope to offer a numberof rich experiences to support the Quantitative Liter-acy community. Watch our mailing list for details asthose opportunities are announced!
Mark BransonStevenson [email protected]
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