What's in a Name? A Critical Review of Definitions of Quantitative Literacy, Numeracy, and Quantitative Reasoning

Abstract

This article aims to bring together various threads in the eclectic literature that make up the scholarship around the theme of Quantitative Literacy. In investigating the meanings of terms like "quantitative literacy," "quantitative reasoning," and "numeracy," we seek common ground, common themes, common goals and aspirations of a community of practitioners. A decade ago, these terms were relatively new in the public sphere; today policy makers and accrediting agencies are routinely inserting them into general education conversations. Having good, representative, and perhaps even compact and easily digestible definitions of these terms might come in handy in public relations contexts as well as in other situations where practitioners need to measure and evaluate their own success or communicate their goals and practice to others. Finding such definitions is, as expected, a difficult task. We offer through our analysis a clarifying framework for practitioners looking to sharpen their definitions and for others who are not keen on finalizing definitions. More specifically, we argue that there is indeed a common thread among all the terms involved, that of a competence in interacting with myriad mathematical and statistical representations of the real world, in the contexts of daily life, work situations, and the civic engagement. Furthermore we propose that the knowledge content captured by the individual terms can be placed on a continuum (statistics-data-arithmeticmathematics-logic).

Quantitative Literacy in the Affective Domain: Computational Geology Students’ Reactions to Devlin’s The Math Instinct

“…The meaning of "quantitative literacy" (QL), "quantitative reasoning" (QR), and "numeracy" is a recurring topic in Numeracy (e.g., Vacher 2014; Karaali et al 2016). Despite any disagreement on the finer distinctions between these terms, however, some basic connotations and uses seem near-universal.…”

A Quantitative Reasoning Approach to Algebra Using Inquiry-Based Learning

“…In addition to Gaze (2014), Karaali (2008) shows how quantitative reasoning can be embedded into calculus, while Catalano (2010) and Tunstall and Bossé (2015) illustrate how to include quantitative reasoning in college algebra. We will focus on the second question, fitting algebra into quantitative reasoning.…”

“…The first part will be the theory and background that informed the design of my curricular materials. I will share my own perspective on what we mean by "algebra" and "doing algebra," which will then be compared with how Karaali et al (2016) define numeracy, quantitative literacy, and quantitative reasoning. These "theoretical" perspectives inform the design of the course materials and are necessary to understand how the lessons are constructed and scaffolded.…”

“…As noted in Karaali et al (2016), communication is a common element in scholars' definitions of numeracy and quantitative literacy. Treating algebra as communication raises interesting questions for class discussion, such as appropriate purposes and audiences for algebra.…”

“…Karaali et al (2016) identified four dimensions to distinguish numeracy, quantitative literacy, and quantitative reasoning, In the process, Karaali et al (2016) established a hierarchy of increasing sophistication: numeracy at the lowest level, quantitative literacy at the next, and quantitative reasoning at the highest level. The four dimensions are the quality of the desired outcome (habits of mind vs ability vs skills), knowledge domain (arithmetic, mathematics, statistics, for example), a display of expertise (such as appreciate, communicate, reason), and the use of context.…”