Assessing the Impact of a Quantitative Skills Course for Undergraduates

Andersen, Kristi; Harsell, Dana Michael

doi:10.1080/15512160490921824

Cited by 24 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Learning statistics is often justified to students as the acquisition of a transferable skill, which although true (e.g. Janda 2001, Andersen & Harsell 2005 is not a view commonly held by students, as outlined above. It may therefore be helpful to explain how the material is relevant for what students are interested in and want to do.…”

Section: First Lecture: How To Start the Coursementioning

confidence: 99%

Doing it your way: The Variation in, and Importance of, Personal Style in Teaching Quantitative Methods for University Social Science Students

Fisher

Brimblecombe

2014

Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences

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This paper reviews and discusses ideas and advice on quantitative methods teaching in the social sciences that were presented and debated in a series of workshops led by experienced university teachers of quantitative methods for social science students. Despite considerable similarity in course content for introductory statistics modules at the undergraduate level, there is often great freedom for teachers and so huge variation in how statistics is taught. This involves different approaches to theory, examples, practical exercises and so on. We argue that there is no single style that would be most effective for everyone, but instead it is important for teachers to teach in a style that suits them.

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Section: First Lecture: How To Start the Coursementioning

confidence: 99%

Doing it your way: The Variation in, and Importance of, Personal Style in Teaching Quantitative Methods for University Social Science Students

Fisher

Brimblecombe

2014

Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences

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“…Although these discussions are useful in understanding methodological standards and expectations in the discipline, they are less beneficial for understanding the impact of various pedagogical choices. Another body of literature focuses on the challenges of teaching undergraduate methods (e.g., Andersen and Harsell 2005 ;Bernstein and Allen 2013 ;Bos and Schneider 2009 ;Brandon et al 2006 ;Brown, Blankenship, and Kramer 2007 ;Centellas 2011 ;Thies and Hogan 2005 ). This is a noteworthy body of work; however, to be successful in the discipline, graduate students must become knowledge generators and disseminators-a point not often at issue with undergraduates, who most commonly find methods to be irrelevant or, in regard to quantitative methods, mathematically overwhelming (e.g., Bos and Schneider 2009 ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Science Mechanics: A Graduate Training Module that "Looks Under the Hood" at Innovative Research Designs

McCann

Cahill-Rincón

Brownstein³

et al. 2013

SSRN Journal

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“…An accurate understanding of large magnitudes not only reinforces better citizenship, but also prepares students for content that is commonly encountered in political science courses, such as budget politics, migrant populations, and climate change statistics. Without a proper facility with these numbers, it is hard to imagine students could contribute substantively to discussions of current events or the basic political phenomena that involve interactions across scales, such as population change, emissions levels, or the national budget (Payne and Williams 2011;Andersen and Harsell 2005). Even outside of political science, there has been increased attention paid to the effect of numeracy on decision-making, personal health choices, and future employment opportunities for students (Peters et al 2006;Ward et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testing the Effectiveness of a Number-based Classroom Exercise

Landy¹,

Guay²,

Chandler³

et al. 2016

Preprint

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Large numbers permeate political life; students of political science can expect to encounter a wide range of numbers in newspaper articles, course readings, and statistics. Recent research in cognitive psychology has demonstrated that American adults make systematic errors when comparing numbers in the millions, billions, and trillions. Political decisions made by voters often require weighing large quantities that range across many orders of magnitude, which is difficult without at least a basic understanding of relative magnitudes. If students also lack an understanding of large numbers, professors cannot meaningfully teach students about political phenomena involving such magnitudes. Therefore, we designed and tested an exercise to improve students' accuracy in dealing with large magnitudes, which had immediate and sustained effects both on their abilities to accurately work with large numbers and their perceptions of numbers in political judgments. (Benhabib, 2012) American citizens are often called upon to make political judgments that require familiarity with large numbers, yet studies find that people make systematic errors in the estimation of large magnitudes. The failure of American citizens to engage with large numbers in a critical manner, especially numbers used in policy discussions and news media, is a serious impediment to meaningful public discussions about a wide range of policy issues and political matters (Best 2012; Blastland and Dilnot 2007;Maier and Imazeki 2012;Huff 1993). An accurate understanding of large magnitudes not only reinforces better citizenship, but also prepares students for content that is commonly encountered in political science courses, such as budget politics, migrant populations, and climate change statistics. Without a proper facility with these numbers, it is hard to imagine students could contribute substantively to discussions of current events or the basic political phenomena that involve interactions across scales, such as population change, emissions levels, or the national budget (Payne and Williams 2011;Andersen and Harsell 2005). Even outside of political science, there has been increased attention paid to the effect of numeracy on decision-making, personal health choices, and future employment opportunities for students (Peters et al. 2006;Ward et al. 2011). Still, surprisingly little literature exists on best practices for teaching number evaluation strategies to students in the classroom, or for integrating these practices across the political science curriculum. A rich pedagogical literature on teaching research methods attests to the trepidation that students feel about encountering numbers in formal ways in political science Using Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory, we designed an exercise that provides a concrete experience to serve as the starting point for reflection, conceptualized thinking, and experimentation. By training students to think about large magnitudes more accurately, the exercise also influences students' perceptions of polit...

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Assessing the Impact of a Quantitative Skills Course for Undergraduates

Cited by 24 publications

References 0 publications

Doing it your way: The Variation in, and Importance of, Personal Style in Teaching Quantitative Methods for University Social Science Students

Doing it your way: The Variation in, and Importance of, Personal Style in Teaching Quantitative Methods for University Social Science Students

Social Science Mechanics: A Graduate Training Module that "Looks Under the Hood" at Innovative Research Designs

Testing the Effectiveness of a Number-based Classroom Exercise

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