Quantitative literacy interventions at University of Cape Town: effects of seperation from academic disciplines

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorFrith, Veraen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2014-10-28T14:02:12Z
dc.date.available2014-10-28T14:02:12Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe aim of the Numeracy Centre at the University of Cape Town is to develop students' quantitative literacy (QL) in a manner consistent with their programmes of study and intended roles in the community. Our theoretical perspective on the nature of QL is in line with that of the New Literacies Studies and sees academic QL as practices in different academic disciplinary contexts. This means that for us the ideal curriculum structure for developing QL would fully integrate it into the teaching of the disciplines. This is in practice not achievable in most cases, especially since many students do not have the necessary foundations of mathematical and statistical knowledge and skills. The unavoidable deviation from the ideal curriculum structure presents challenges to the design of QL interventions. Two illustrative examples which display different degrees of separation from the disciplinary teaching are described and discussed. This discussion is based on lecturers' reflections on the teaching experience and on student evaluations. The 'stand-alone' QL course for Humanities and Law students, which uses a context-based approach, is the least integrated with the disciplinary curriculum, and presents challenges in terms of tensions in the classroom between the contexts and the mathematical and statistical content, as well as challenges in terms of student motivation. The QL intervention for medical students is more closely integrated into the medical curriculum and presents fewer challenges. Both interventions are intended to provide 'foundations' in terms of QL and suffer from difficulties in providing students with authentic motivation.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationFrith, V. (2012). Quantitative literacy interventions at University of Cape Town: effects of seperation from academic disciplines. <i>Numeracy</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8839en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationFrith, Vera "Quantitative literacy interventions at University of Cape Town: effects of seperation from academic disciplines." <i>Numeracy</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8839en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationFrith, V. 2012. Quantitative literacy interventions at University of Cape Town: effects of seperation from academic disciplines. Numeracy.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1936-4660en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Frith, Vera AB - The aim of the Numeracy Centre at the University of Cape Town is to develop students' quantitative literacy (QL) in a manner consistent with their programmes of study and intended roles in the community. Our theoretical perspective on the nature of QL is in line with that of the New Literacies Studies and sees academic QL as practices in different academic disciplinary contexts. This means that for us the ideal curriculum structure for developing QL would fully integrate it into the teaching of the disciplines. This is in practice not achievable in most cases, especially since many students do not have the necessary foundations of mathematical and statistical knowledge and skills. The unavoidable deviation from the ideal curriculum structure presents challenges to the design of QL interventions. Two illustrative examples which display different degrees of separation from the disciplinary teaching are described and discussed. This discussion is based on lecturers' reflections on the teaching experience and on student evaluations. The 'stand-alone' QL course for Humanities and Law students, which uses a context-based approach, is the least integrated with the disciplinary curriculum, and presents challenges in terms of tensions in the classroom between the contexts and the mathematical and statistical content, as well as challenges in terms of student motivation. The QL intervention for medical students is more closely integrated into the medical curriculum and presents fewer challenges. Both interventions are intended to provide 'foundations' in terms of QL and suffer from difficulties in providing students with authentic motivation. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Numeracy KW - quantitative literacy KW - numeracy KW - curriculum KW - higher education LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 SM - 1936-4660 T1 - Quantitative literacy interventions at University of Cape Town: effects of seperation from academic disciplines TI - Quantitative literacy interventions at University of Cape Town: effects of seperation from academic disciplines UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8839 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/8839
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationFrith V. Quantitative literacy interventions at University of Cape Town: effects of seperation from academic disciplines. Numeracy. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8839.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherUniversity of South Floridaen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentAcademic Development Programme (ADP)en_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyCentre for Higher Education Developmenten_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unporteden_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/en_ZA
dc.sourceNumeracyen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.5.1.3en_ZA
dc.subjectquantitative literacyen_ZA
dc.subjectnumeracyen_ZA
dc.subjectcurriculumen_ZA
dc.subjecthigher educationen_ZA
dc.titleQuantitative literacy interventions at University of Cape Town: effects of seperation from academic disciplinesen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
CHED_article_QuantitativeLiteracy_Frith_2012.pdf
Size:
302.11 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Journal Articles