Quantitative Reasoning at the University of Massachusetts Boston

Summary

After years of watching students graduate from the University without taking a math course or having failed a math course when they did attempt one, a group of faculty at the University of Massachusetts Boston recently began to seriously address the following problems: How could they teach meaningful mathematics to students who do not like mathematics and who think that mathematics has no place in their lives? How could they better prepare students for the work they will do at the University? How could they help students to be better members of their communities, able to process and analyze the vast amount of information that is part of our complex society? The answer was to develop a Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning requirement and new courses designed specifically for that requirement. All students, both incoming freshmen and transfer, would have to satisfy the requirement by taking a newly designed Quantitative Reasoning course or Mathematics course from an approved list, or by showing proficiency in Mathematics at the PreCalculus level or above. Since the introduction of the requirement, the results have been encouraging and astounding, particularly for students who take a Quantitative Reasoning course and for the faculty who teach it. One student's reflection captures the experience of many: “this course has changed the way I have looked at Math almost my entire life. Despite the fact that I do like Math, I was often discouraged by my inability to find a connection between what I was learning in class and things going on in real life.…