Article Title
Department
Economics
Journal Title
Numeracy
Publication Date
2009
Volume No.
2
Issue No.
2
First Page
Article 2
Publisher
University of South Florida Libraries
File Name
051_Grawe-Nathan_IntegratingQuantitativeReasoningInitiativesWithWritingPrograms.pdf
Keywords
quantitative reasoning, program development
Abstract
As an inherently interdisciplinary endeavor, quantitative reasoning (QR) risks falling through the cracks between the traditional “silos” of higher education. This article describes one strategy for developing a truly cross-campus QR initiative: leverage the existing structures of campus writing programs by placing QR in the context of argument. We first describe the integration of Carleton College’s Quantitative Inquiry, Reasoning, and Knowledge initiative with the Writing Program. Based on our experience, we argue that such an approach leads to four benefits: it reflects important aspects of QR often overlooked by other approaches; it defuses the commonly raised objection that QR is merely remedial math; it sidesteps challenges of institutional culture (idiosyncratic campus history, ownership, and inertia); and it improves writing instruction. We then explore the implications of our approach for QR graduation standards. Our experience suggests that once we engaged faculty from across the curriculum in our work, it would have been difficult to adopt a narrowly defined requirement of skills-based courses. The article concludes by providing resources for those who would like to implement this approach at the course and institutional level.
Rights Management
Carleton College does not own the copyright to this work and the work is available through the Carleton College Library following the original publisher's policies regarding self-archiving. For more information on the copyright status of this work, refer to the current copyright holder.
RoMEO Color
Green
Preprint Archiving
Yes
Postprint Archiving
Yes
Publisher PDF Archiving
Unknown
Paid OA Option
Yes
Contributing Organization
Carleton College
Type
Article
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
DOI
10.5038/1936-4660.2.2.2
External URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.2.2.2
Recommended Citation
Grawe, Nathan, and Carol Rutz. 2009. "Integrating Quantitative Reasoning Initiatives with Writing Programs: A Strategy for Effective Program Development." Numeracy 2, (2): Article 2. Available at: https://doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.2.2.2. Accessed via Faculty Work. Economics. Carleton Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.carleton.edu/econ_faculty/1
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.2.2.2
