I am so glad that to hear that there are others who are placing an emphasis
on making the teaching of mathematics to the lives of our students. That was
an ecellent post and I have two other books that you may wish to use in
supplementing your course or perhaps you may have your students read as part
of a course project. I actually met the author and he really has a knack
for showing how it is possible to lie with statistics. Isn't thee a book
with that title somewhere? Sampling is especially imprtant for anyone who
will pursue careers in business/marketing research, psychology, research and
law.
Well here are the books you may want to check out. Both are by John Allen
Paulos:
Innumeracy
Beyond Innumeracy
Another good reference book for ideas is Mathematics for the Millions: How to
Master the Magic of Numbers by Lancelot Hogben published by W W Norton
Company originally published in 1937. The reading is fairly difficult for
undergrads but you would be able to use many of the ideas with some
modification.
Hope that helps.
Deanna M. De'Liberto
President and Director of Assessment
D SQUARED ASSESSMENTS, INC.
(Specialists in Test Development / Validation and Test Administration)
9 Bedle Road, Suite 250
Hazlet, NJ 07730-1209
Phone: (732) 888-9339
Email: Ddeliberto@aol.com
In a message dated 97-08-20 14:57:19 EDT, you write:
<< Phillip,
We recently (3 years ago) developed a Mathematics for Liberal Arts
Majors. It was a cooperative effort with the U. of A. Our guiding
principal was:
"What do you think a college-educated person should know about mathematics?"
and our department's requirement. "Make it relevant...real life...usable!"
Probability & Stats (esp. stats) topped the list. Definitely YES! We
deal
with stats from the cradle to the grave (Geisel Norms to Life expectancy..).
It is important that these students understand what the "numbers are really
saying". Also accent sampling etc (How to lie with statistics) Pick up
the
newspapers... We rarely see the reports...just the journalists
interpretation
of the report. (Those future journalists are in your class too!) One of
my
assignments is to have students locate a recent (last 2 weeks) non-medical
report article and point out what information is included and excluded
...and
given that info...are they "buying the story". [I must admit that I go on a
rampage about the 1-900-dial-in-your-opinion surveys... talk about your self
selected participants.]
Also exponential & logarithmic functions - Applications. Like present &
future value. I had more students comment...wish I had taken this class
BEFORE I bought the car, got the mortgage etc.
We also included apportionment (like the US house of representatives)...even
the methods of apportionment have historic names like Websters, Jefferson.
etc
The political science & history majors enjoy this one.
Also group preference... like the Borda Count, or run off methods. How
exactly do they come up the "All Star" game players?
I also do a little on the Power Index. Looking at things from the local
City
Council to the U.N.
The problem is finding a text book. Trust me I'm still looking for the
perfect book. In the interum we settled on "modules".. produced in spiral
bound format from : Innovative Textbooks in Irvine, CA (phone number 714
854-5667. We use three modules ... Mathematics of the Social Sciences,
Applications of Exponents and Logarithms and Probability and Statistics.
OF
the three I really like the first two and find I have to supplement the 3rd
as
it doesn't have normal distribution and sampling techniques in it. The cost
to the student of purchasing all 3 modules is TOTAL around $20. Some of
the
students are selective when selling them back to the bookstore. Keeping
this
one...selling this one back.
Sure hope this helps. The good news for us lately has been that the U. of
Arizona's School of Education has been encouraging it's elementary education
majors to take the course because it gives a broad basis in the "everyman,
everyday" uses of mathematics.
Barbara C. Armenta
Pima Community College - East Campus
Tucson, AZ >>
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