Internet Exercises and Modules for Teaching Quantitative Reasoning Skills
There are a variety of collections of exercises and modules publicly available on the Internet that users may borrow or adapt for use in their own instruction (please obtain permission when necessary and/or provide credit to the original author(s) for use of these materials). They cover a wide range of QR learning skills and topics (and subject areas). A sampling of them is provided below:
American Statistical Association Journal of Statistics Education (JSE) Online Data Archive
This is a collection of data sets and accompanying resources for using them. To use data sets in papers, books, or other published material you must obtain the consent of the contributing author. The JSE Editor should also be informed of the request, but the author retains the right to grant use of the data set. Many of these resources are also inventoried at CAUSE (see below).
Australian Help: Online Math Resources
This website offers a variety of online math resources ranging from online calculators (e.g., giant calculators, temperature conversion calculators) to interactive textbooks.
Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE)
The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSEweb.org) has a variety of laboratories (computer and hands-on activities). You can browse the resources according to statistical tools (e.g., data collection, data presentation, probability, and statistical inference).
Dartmouth College Center for Mathematics and Quantitative Education
The Dartmouth College Center for Mathematics and Quantitative Education has an electronic bookshelf with a variety of materials that features an interdisciplinary approach to mathematics education. They are organized by topics such as biology, medicine and psychology; art; history and geography; quantitative literacy; physical sciences; math and music; business and economics; algebra; financial literacy; engineering; literature and writing; data analysis and statistics; calculus and differential equations; health QL; computer science; discrete math, and K-12 resources.
This is a collection of brief videos for students to graph. It is a collaborative project between Dan Meyer and BuzzMath.
Mathematics Across the Community College Curriculum (MAC3)
The Mathematics Across the Community College Curriculum (MAC3) has a variety of assignments developed by participants in MAC3workshops. These assignments are organized according to discipline and include dozens in several different areas (e.g., Art, Chemistry, English, History, Mathematics, Speech, etc.).
Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT)
The Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) has a variety of learning exercises, organized by broad areas (e.g., arts, business, education, humanities, mathematics & statistics, science and technology, social sciences, workforce development) as well as more specific disciplines (e.g., art history, finance, educational leadership, mathematics, chemistry, sociology) and material types (e.g., animation, assessment tools, assignments, etc.).
National Archives Experience: Docs Teach
A guide for teaching history using documents and engaging exercises. Click on "Find activities" and select a historical era. Afterwards, you can select a tool (e.g., finding a sequence, focusing on detail, interpreting data, making conclusions, mapping history, seeing the big picture, and/or weighing the evidence).
National Numeracy Network (NNN)
The National Numeracy Network has a searchable archive of numerous assignments and modules, organized by subject (e.g., biology, chemistry, education, history, etc.) and skill (e.g., algebra, gathering data, graphs, scientific notations, etc.). They also have a collection of teaching resources and modules on a variety of topics including Mathematical and Statistical Models, Measurement and Uncertainty, Quantitative Writing, Teaching Quantitative Reasoning with News, Teaching with Data, Teaching with Models, and Teaching with Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum.
The National Science Digital Library (NSDL)
The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) has a variety of instructional resources, including exercises/modules. NSDL is the nation's online portal for education and research on learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). You may browse according to a variety of topics (e.g., science literacy maps, math common core, etc.) and resources are also organized according to target audience (e.g., K-12 teachers, higher education, etc.).
A collection of exercises developed by faculty at LaGuardia Community College of the City University of New York (CUNY) for teaching algebra, trigonometry, and statistics in a contextualized manner (energy and the environment, public health, business and finance).
Patricia Bowne at Alverno College
Patricia Bowne at Alverno College has a collection of interactive web tutorials and exercises for QR in anatomy and physiology.
Radical Math "is a resource for educators interested in integrating issues of social and economic justice into their math classes and curriculum. On [their] website you will find links to access and download over 700 lesson plans, articles, charts, graphs, data sets, maps, books, and websites to help you bring these issues into your classroom."
Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN)
The Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN)'s Data Counts! web site has a repository of data analysis exercises/modules organized by grade level and subject (age, census, population, poverty).
Social Science Research and Instructional Council
The Social Science Research and Instructional Council has a collection of modules and exercises (which are defined differently). A module has "a theoretical perspective and background on an important social science topic, a discussion of methods used to research the topic, and a set of exercises (with a data set) to teach analytic techniques for arriving at scientifically valid conclusions about the topic using SPSS or other statistical packages." Exercises "contain a problem (theoretical or statistical), a dataset and codebook and steps on how to answer the problem by analysis of the data set. Unlike modules there is little or no theoretical material provided."
Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum
The Spreadsheet Across the Curriculum initiative (Len Vacher) has a variety of modules including: (a) the general collection, (b) geology of national parks collection, (c) physical volcanology collection, and (d) geologic hazards collection. Each of these collections is searchable by quantitative concepts, Excel skills, and subject.
A self-described manual of 40 activities/workshop ideas designed to "warm-up to analyze environmental data" and "communicate data and statistics in a memorable way."
Sustainability Improves Student Learning (SISL)
The SISL initiative seeks to improve undergraduate education and better prepare students to respond to sustainability concerns including energy, air and water quality, and climate change. The initiative focuses on various disciplines including Mathematics and QR. The latter (highlighted above) links to resources for infusing sustainability into math/QR courses including activities, journal articles, textbooks, web sites, etc.
TeacherVision has a collection of many hands-on exercises designed to teach K-12 students how to prepare and work with tables and graphs.
TV 411 "Tune in to Learning" has collections of videos and web lessons geared towards basic math and quantitative reasoning skills (e.g., graphing, ratios, averages, exponents, fractions, decimals, percentages, and geometry).
The United States Census Bureau has a collection of 9-12 teaching materials (exercises) that focuses on a variety of topics including map literacy, managing data, and sampling.
University of Wollongong Statistical Literacy Modules
This set of modules focuses on 3 different themes: (1) producing data, (2) describing, clarifying, and presenting data, and (3) interpreting data.
Using Data in the Classroom provides a searchable collection of resources that contains links to on-line activities for teaching STEM concepts with data of all types and examples that describe ways in which on-line, published, and student-collected data are currently used in teaching and learning.
A collection of exercises that make use of spreadsheets. They are rated by level of difficulty.