Quantitative Literacy
If I was to sum up the goals of Math 101 in one sentence, it is as follows: The student will be able to read a news article with quantitative data/charts/graphs and: parse the data, understand the data, run a quick plausibility check, and scan for biases.
One aspect of this course that really draws me is that is does not depend on the background of the students. I am well aware many students dread their required math courses. Here it is as one of my Math 101 students said it in their course evaluation:
"Most of the students are in this math class because we aren't very good at math / find it extremely boring yet this instructor had us engaged, learning, and laughing every class period."
For Math 101, there is no assumed background knowledge, and no equations or formulas to memorize. Students with any or no mathematical background will be able to succeed. When I started teaching the class, there were two exams and one project. When I stopped teaching the class, there were three projects and no exams. I played a major role in the development of all three of those projects during the summer of 2020. The students continuously remarked about how the projects made them feel like they were learning useful math that would actually help them in life.
Below is a link to my materials from planning the projects over the summer of 2020. Three of these projects were altered slightly and then became the focal points of the online version of the class in Fall 2020. One project I particularly enjoyed was about the cost of living. Students had to do research comparing the costs of living in two cities they may want to live in. They also had to come up with both quantitative reasons and nonquantitative reasons why they might prefer one of the cities. This project encapsulates what I love about quantitative literacy because it asks students to do critical thinking about themselves and about the world they live in, and they use mathematical techniques to help with this analysis.
I hope that I get more opportunities to teach quantitative literacy in the future, as I greatly enjoyed this class and what it can offer to students who are looking for a different take on mathematics.