We share our experiences comprehending social theory as it applies to numeracy scholarship. We build on existing arguments that social theory-explicitly acknowledging the presence and influence of histories, power, and purposes-offers something important to scholars who study and discuss numeracy. In this article, we translate the six propositions of one particular social theory of literacy into propositions about numeracy, then we explore the meaning of each proposition, its connections to existing scholarship, and its implications. This article emerges from two literature reviews: one on social theories (especially their application to and development in literacy) and one on numeracy. We bring these two reviews together through the decisions and connections we make during this translation. We hope this account of our experiences can help other numeracy scholars as they approach, adapt, and apply theory.

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Sample Project from Math 102-Creating an Infographic Background and project description: In class, we compared the different tax plans for several of the 2016 presidential candidates. While it is interesting to compare federal income tax amounts for the different candidates, there are several other important issues that are currently being debated, as well as issues that are commonly debated and discussed during election years. For your project, you will create an infographic about one of the issues below. This infographic is NOT meant to be an infographic for a particular candidate or political party; you do not need to mention any presidential candidates at all. What you're trying to address is "What is [ the topic ] about and why should we care about [ the topic ]." To do this, you will need to do some research and find some real data that support the topic of your infographic. You will need to provide the sources of your data. Note that Google and Wikipedia are excellent starting places, but neither is considered a valid source! Your infographic can be made on Piktochart, with a different computer or Internet program, or by hand. Possible topics for your infographic: •Granting Citizenship to undocumented immigrants (an infographic on this topic may be either in support or opposed to providing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the United States. Or it may be a "balanced" infographic that shows both sides of the story). •Immigration (an infographic on this topic should either be in favor of increasing the number of refugees allowed into the U.S., or decreasing/stopping the amount of refugees allowed into the U.S.). •Foreign Military Policy (an infographic on this topic should be either in favor or against the United States committing ground troops to combat Daesh, or in favor or opposed to carpet bombing areas associated with Daesh, or in favor or against the U.S. having a permanent military presence in the Middle East.). •Climate Change (an infographic on this topic should show how climate change is real and why it's important to consider in this election). •Gun Control (an infographic on this topic may either be in favor of stricter gun regulations, or in favor of no additional gun regulations). •Mass Incarceration (an infographic on this topic may include data on groups that are imprisoned at higher rates than other groups, such as the mentally disabled and specific minority groups. It should include information about what political policies began some of these issues).

In this article, we examine how students in a general education quantitative literacy course reason with public issues when unprompted to use quantitative reasoning. Michigan State University, like many institutions, not only has a quantitative literacy requirement for all undergraduates but also offers two courses specifically for meeting the requirement. A central goal of the courses is for students to use pertinent mathematical tools in the analysis of public issues. In teaching and observing the course, we found that students often approached public issues in complex ways, calling upon prior knowledge, a sense of justice, or other disciplinary habits. This diverse tool set simultaneously serves as a lever for insight into public issues while also potentially impeding the traditional goal of detached analysis in many mathematics classrooms. Drawing upon interviews with five students as they reasoned with media artifacts concerning public issues, we provide evidence of this tension and highlight possibilities afforded by inviting such a tool kit for full use in a general education quantitative literacy course. Our conclusion is that quantitative literacy courses that focus on public issues appear to be ideal spaces for fostering a host of skills supported in general education courses—not just mathematical content itself.

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