Quantitative Literacy is a cultural field where language and quantitative constructs merge and are no longer one or the other.

Robert Orrill, circa 2001

Wingspread Conference on QL

June 22-24, 2007

“STEM/non-STEM Differences in Engagement at US Institutions”Nelson Laird, Sullivan, Zimmerman, and McCormick in Peer Review, Summer 2011

“For good or ill, [numbers] are today’s preeminent public language – and those who speak it rule. Quick and cool, numbers seem to have conquered fact.”

Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot in The Numbers Game

Numbers are not only important because they are pervasive; they are pervasive because they are important.

Neal Lutsky, Calculation vs Context

Reasons to merge writing and QR

• To strengthen academic arguments• To strengthen quantitative literacy/reasoning• To interpret and improve public discourse• To encourage cross disciplinary cooperation

and understanding• To prepare for the workforce

More Mothers of Babies Under 1 Are Staying Home New York Times After a quarter-century in which women with young children poured into the workplace, last year brought the first decline in the percentage of women who have babies younger than 1 year old and are in the work force.

After a quarter-century in which women with young children poured into the workplace, the percentage of women in the labor force who had babies younger than 1-year old declined last year.

USA Today July 6, 2004 Who says USA Today is written at the 6th grade level?

Are these two views compatible?Can one determine how much the tax cut is?

Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data by Joel Best

The Tiger that Isn’t by Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot – the US version is The Numbers Game

Forbes MagazineJanuary 21, 2002Why Journalists Can't Add Dan Seligman, 01.21.02 Liberal arts graduates control the media, which doubtless helps the prose--but generates endless screwups in numbers.

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If only the math majors could write.

Numbed by the NumbersDan Okrent – New York Times

Sometimes the absence of a number is as deflating to an article's credibility as the presence of a deceptive one. Few articles noting that President Bush received more votes than any candidate in history also mentioned that more people voted against him than any candidate in history. Quoting Michael Moore's assertion that standing ovations in Greensboro, N.C., proved that "Fahrenheit 9/11" is "a red state movie" disregards the fact that metropolitan Greensboro has over 1.2 million people. You could probably find in a population that large enough people to give a standing O for a reading of the bylaws of the American Dental Association.

Does this Index Make Me Look Fat?Gina Kolata – New York Times

THERE'S an overweight man in the White House and his name is George W. Bush.

Yes, the president of the United States, known for his robust good health, is officially overweight, according to the standards of the National Institutes of Health. At 6 feet and 194 pounds, his body mass index, or B.M.I., a measurement of height relative to weight, is 26.4, and 25 or above is officially overweight for both sexes.

And so President Bush joins about 65 percent of Americans who are overweight or obese - a status derived solely from that body mass index dividing line of 25.

Interpretation152/234 or 65%

Representation29%

Calculation43%

Analysis/Synthesis34%

Assumptions14%

Communication23%

InterpretationAbility to glean and explainmathematical informationpresented in various forms (e.g.equations, graphs, diagrams,tables, words)

RepresentationAbility to convert informationfrom one mathematical form (e.g.equations, graphs, diagrams,tables, words) into another.

CalculationAbility to perform arithmetical andmathematical calculations.

Analysis/SynthesisAbility to make and drawconclusions based on quantitativeanalysis.

AssumptionsAbility to make and evaluateimportant assumptions inestimation, modeling, and dataanalysis.

CommunicationAbility to explain thoughts andprocesses in terms of whatevidence is used, how it isorganized, presented, andcontextualized.

QLAR and Study Questions from Casebook for QR

Four major paper assignments:

1-2 page critical response essay on understanding a large quantity.

2-3 page evaluative synthesis on selecting a desired purchase and devising a savings plan to achieve the purchase

2-3 page argumentative synthesis on “state of the union” of a selected situation with a population

5-6 page research paper on a current, negative issue that is important to the student and propose a solution

greater vs more less vs fewer quantity vs number with mass nouns: greater, less. & quantity with count nouns: more, fewer, and number count nouns – people, cars, bottles of wine mass nouns – happiness, butter, population, traffic, wine

less vs fewer… there are less tickets being sold in 2010 than in 2000. Quantity (amount) vs number The quotient of this was 4,563,492 which was the amount of people that would be able to go Disney World for ten days by purchasing the ten day pass.

The simple interest plan is the worst of option of all three, because it will take either a lot more amount of time or a lot more initial input to reach my goal, too large of one for a college kid on meager funds.

This means that the 167,857 children that $4.7 million could sponsor for one month is approximately 2.192 times the amount of people living in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2010.

That equals out to roughly 961 dollars a week and slightly over 24 dollars an hour. On a money market savings account there is a .35% interest rate compounded monthly, which equals 4.2% interest annually.

On a money market savings account there is a .35% interest rate compounded monthly, which equals 4.2% interest annually.

When comparing the three different types of savings plans, it is clear that the simple interest savings plan will not work for the budget I have and the time limit I want in order to reach my goal of $6,661.33. But the modified simple interest savings plan and the installment savings plan will both do extremely well. By the end of the 4 years I anticipated to wait, for both plans, I will have exceeded my goal. In 2000, the voting-age population came out to be a total of 205,815,000 with a voter registration consisting of 156,421,311 people. The voter turnout was 105,586,274 and the percentage pertaining to the turnout of the voting-age population was 51.3%.

… but that money could have been used on more useful things.