Why use Quantitative Writing

Why QW Assignments Are Valuable

Here are four reasons why QW assignments are valuable:

Reason 1: QW assignments follow "best practices" recommended by the Mathematical Association of America.

In its 1998 white paper "Quantitative Reasoning for College Graduates: A Complement to the Standards" the Mathematical Association of America argues that "colleges and universities should expect every college graduate to be able to apply simple mathematical methods to the solution of real-world problems." The white paper calls for a "mathematics-across-the-curriculum" program analogous to writing-across-the-curriculum. The MAA quotes Lauren Resnick:

Reason 2: QW assignments can transform students' view of numbers.

Typically, students regard mathematics as the pursuit of right answers through the algorithmic application of increasingly complex formulae and calculations. Doing math means to do the problem sets at the back of a textbook chapter. Math teachers' attempts to create a real-world context for mathematics often result in contrived story problems posing questions that no one would really ask: "Train A leaves St. Louis at 8:00 traveling at 60 miles per hour, while Train B . . ." or "The Smiths' swimming pool fills at a rate of 25 gallons per minute . . ." Such story problems are really well-structured, algorithmic problems in disguise. By contrast, a QW assignment poses an ill-structured, messy problem requiring the use of quantitative data in an argument. By adding a quantitative dimension to the motivating problem, QW assignments immerse students in a rich critical thinking environment very different from that of a math story problem. By placing quantitative data in the context of real world problems with stakes, such assignments can transform students' view of numbers.

Reason 3: QW assignments promote quantitative skills needed for 21st Century citizenship and careers.

Most issues of public policy have a significant quantitative dimension. Whether deliberating about health care, energy usage, or immigration policy, effective citizens must be able to interpret and analyze numbers, read graphs, understand simple statistics, and recognize the ways that numerical data can be manipulated for rhetorical effect. QW assignments thus help develop students for responsible citizenship. Likewise many careers require extensive use of mathematics. Persons most likely to advance in their careers need not only to analyze quantitative data but also to argue with numbers. Likewise career success requires effective writing skills. QW assignments simultaneously promote the quantitative and verbal literacy needed for career success.

Reason 4: QW assignments fill in gaps not typically addressed in math courses

QW assignments require students to analyze and use quantitative data in rhetorical contexts in which writers aim to influence readers' views of a topic. Such contexts activate critical thinking in ways often not required in a math class. To take a simple example, a math class teaches students the difference between a mean and a median. But in making a rhetorical argument with numbers, the thinker must decide when to use means versus medians-for example, whether to report the median income of a certain population segment or the mean income-and to understand both the conceptual and ethical significance of the distinction. Likewise math classes teach students how to read tables and graphs but often not how to construct tables and graphs for a rhetorical purpose. (There is a significant difference between using a graphing calculator to graph a function and constructing one's own graph to show the increase in the income gap between rich and poor in the United States). In a research project with finance students at Seattle University, a research team discovered that students were rarely taught to think of graphs rhetorically as arguments; many thought that including graphics in a paper meant attaching spread sheets (Bean, Earenfight, and Carrithers, 2005). QW assignments can give students practice at creating rhetorically effective graphics, including composing the kinds of explicit titles, legends, and labels that readers need. These examples suggest how QW assignments teach students to think about numbers in ways not typically addressed in math classes.

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