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| Paper: |
An Informed Approach to Improving Quantitative Literacy and Mitigating Math Anxiety in Undergraduates Through Introductory Science Courses |
| Volume: |
457, Connecting People to Science |
| Page: |
295 |
| Authors: |
Follette, K.; McCarthy, D. |
| Abstract: |
Current trends in the teaching of high school and college science avoid numerical engagement because nearly all students lack basic arithmetic skills and experience anxiety when encountering numbers. Nevertheless, such skills are essential to science and vital to becoming savvy consumers, citizens capable of recognizing pseudoscience, and discerning interpreters of statistics in ever-present polls, studies, and surveys in which our society is awash. Can a general-education collegiate course motivate students to value numeracy and to improve their quantitative skills in what may well be their final opportunity in formal education? We present a tool to assess whether skills in numeracy/quantitative literacy can be fostered and improved in college students through the vehicle of non-major introductory courses in astronomy. Initial classroom applications define the magnitude of this problem and indicate that significant improvements are possible. Based on these initial results we offer this tool online and hope to collaborate with other educators, both formal and informal, to develop effective mechanisms for encouraging all students to value and improve their skills in basic numeracy. |
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