Why was QR created?
Introduction: A new meaning of literacy for the contemporary world
DePaul graduates are entering an increasingly more competitive job market and an increasingly
more complex society. Culturally relevant information is now produced, shared and consumed in
a plurality of ways, several of which did not even exist 15 years ago. The global effort of this
University to educate a whole person, in a Vincentian framework, must ensure that our
graduates are equipped with the necessary set of skills that will make them competitive,
responsible, critical citizens of the world of today.
In this context, a new notion of literacy emerges that, following de Castell and Luke (1986) ,
translates as “having mastery over the processes by means of which culturally significant
information is coded”. We strongly feel that equipping our students with literacy in the above
sense is a major responsibility of the spine of the Liberal Studies Program. The following
proposal is aimed at strengthening the mathematical and technological components of the
spine.
The current Quantitative Reasoning program as part of the Liberal Studies Program
Spine
Previous to the current Liberal Studies Program instituted in 1997, the only quantitative
requirement for students whose majors did not require them to take calculus was to
demonstrate proficiency in Computational Skills and Basic Algebra, the latter being the level of
beginning high school algebra. Students could meet the requirement by taking an exam which
they could re-take as many times as they wished. The skills necessary to pass the exam were
neither sufficient nor appropriate to allow students to do well in higher-level college courses with
a quantitative component. Students were graduating without the ability to understand or
interpret the most basic quantitative data or information that they would be sure to encounter
after they left the university.
The situation with computer and technology skills was even worse. Prior to the current Liberal
Studies Program, there was no technology requirement of any kind for DePaul University
students, not even a basic computer literacy requirement.
The current mathematics and technology requirements were developed as part of the current
Liberal Studies Program to address these needs. Development involved the input of broad
group of faculty representing a diverse set of disciplines.
The current general requirement can be summarized as
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All students must demonstrate a mastery of College Algebra either by placement or by
taking a 4 credit course (ISP 110 Algebra for Applications or MAT 101 Introduction to
College Algebra)
All students must either take the specially developed Quantitative Reasoning course,
LSP 120, or take Calculus as part of their major.
Students not majoring in the sciences or computer science must take a course in the
Scientific Inquiry Domain that includes a substantial quantitative component.
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One exception was made: students who will not be required to take Calculus as part of their
major and who place into Calculus on the Mathematics Placement exam are said to have
satisfied the Quantitative Reasoning Requirement. In addition, a mechanism (the Quantitative
Reasoning Exam) was put in place so that students already possessing the skills of the
Quantitative Reasoning course could demonstrate their competence and place out.
The Quantitative Reasoning course, LSP 120, was developed drawing upon the most recent
recommendations of the Mathematical Association of America (Sons, 1996) and the expertise
and experience of DePaul’s own faculty. Reflecting the work of a community of mathematicians
concerned about quantitative skills of citizens in the twentieth first century (e.g., Paulos (1988),
Steen (1997, 2001), Madison (2003)), it is an innovative mathematics course which integrates
technology. It focuses on using mathematics in context and preparing students for quantitative
work in science courses, their own disciplines, in professional work, and in their own daily lives.
It emphasizes reasoning and critical engagement with a wide range of quantitative information.
Technology integrated into the curriculum helps students master software tools far more
thoroughly than a stand-alone computer literacy course could. The course has garnered
national attention at professional meetings and in professional publications. Dr. Carolyn
Narasimhan and Dr. David Jabon have been invited to make presentations on the Quantitative
Reasoning course at the national meetings of a variety of professional organizations: the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (2000), American Statistical Association (2000),
Mathematical Association of America (Winter 2001, Summer 2001, Winter 2003). In addition,
Dr. Narasimhan and Dr. Jabon have given four presentations at regional meetings of these
organizations since 1998. An article on the program was published in 2000:D. Jabon and C.
Narasimhan (2000), “Interdisciplinary Quantitative Reasoning: A Pre-Statistics Course,”
American Statistical Association 2000 Proceedings of the Section on Statistical Education, pp.
100-105.
In May, 2003, Dr. Narasimhan was a keynote speaker at a symposium at the University of
Delaware on general education. The University of Delaware is using the model of DePaul
University to help craft a new quantitative reasoning requirement for its students. Dr. David
Jabon, in September 2003, assisted Dr. Christine Kidd of the University of Delaware in
incorporating some of DePaul’s computer activities in her courses for first year business
students.
In 2004, the DePaul University’s Quantitative Reasoning Program was one of the programs
featured in a volume entitled “Quantitative Literacy in Practice” (2004) to be published by the
Mathematical Association of America (edited by Rick Gilman of Purdue University).
As a reflection of our belief that quantitative and technological skills are fundamental
components of the DePaul experience, one of the strengths of the current mathematics and
technology requirement is that close to 70% of undergraduate students take a single course
(LSP 120) instead of choosing one course from a long list of alternatives. The current
approach assures that all DePaul graduates have solid mathematical skills and most have
substantial technology skills and can use technology in context to analyze actual data. They can
critically evaluate quantitative arguments and quantitative graphics in the media. They can use
mathematics in an interdisciplinary context. Hundreds of students have indicated to us that the
LSP 120 course improved their employability, in many cases allowing them to obtain jobs they
would not have gotten without having taken the course.
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REFERENCES
de Castell, S. and A. Luke, 1986. “Models of literacy in North American schools: Social and
historical conditions and consequences” In: S. de Castell, A. Luke, and K. Egan (editors).
Literacy Society and Schooling. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 87-109.
Jabon, D. and C. Narasimhan, 2000. “Interdisciplinary Quantitative Reasoning: A Pre-Statistics
Course” American Statistical Association 2000 Proceedings of the Section on Statistical
Education (2000), pp. 100-105.
Jabon, D., 2004. “Quantitative Reasoning: An Interdisciplinary, Technology Infused Approach”
In: Gilman, R. (ed.) Quantitative Literacy in Practice, Mathematical Association of America,
(forthcoming).
Madison, B. et al., 2003. Quantitative Literacy: Why Numeracy Matters for Schools and
Colleges. Princeton: The National Council on Education and the Disciplines.
Paulos, J. A. 1988. Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences. New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Sons, Linda, et al., 1996. Quantitative Reasoning for College Students: A Supplement to the
Standards. Mathematical Association of America.
Steen, L. (ed.) 1997. Why Numbers Count: Quantitative Literacy for Tomorrow's America. New
York: College Entrance Examination Board, 1997.
Steen, L. (ed.) 2001. Mathematics and Democracy: The Case for Quantitative Literacy.
Princeton: National Council on Education and the Disciplines.
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