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National Council on Education in the Disciplines –
The following is a brief annotated bibliography of relevance to those interested in Quantitative Literacy from NCED.
Books
and Articles:
Bennett,
Deborah J. Randomness. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 1998.
Bernstein, Peter L. Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk. New York, NY: John Wiley, 1996. Written by an investment consultant, this volume marshals episodes from the history of insurance, probability, and statistics as evidence that modern civilization is distinguished by its ability to understand and control risk. Ranges from traditional foundations of probability in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to such modern topics as game theory, portfolio selection, prospect theory, behavioral finance, and (financial) derivatives.
Burrill,
Gail, et al. Data Analysis and Statistics
Across the Curriculum. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, 1992.
Cole,
K. C. The Universe and the Teacup: The
Mathematics of Truth and Beauty. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1998. An
exploration of mathematics by a science writer whose purpose is to show that an
interest in the quality of life is in no way diminished by quantitative
argument. Chapters touch on innumeracy, measurement, social implications, and
issues of truth and beauty.
Crosby, Alfred W. The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250-1600. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Demonstrates how quantitative methods emerged very slowly in the middle ages as artists and merchants learned the value of imposing standardized measures (of length, of time, of money) on their crafts. Argues that this imposition of "quanta" on reality enabled the West's scientific and technological acceleration in the Renaissance.
Desrosiéres, Alain. The Politics of Large Numbers: A History of Statistical Reasoning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. Shows how the evolution of statistics has been inextricably bound up with the knowledge and power of governments, tracing the complex reciprocity between modern governments and the mathematical artifacts that both dictate the duties of the state and measure its successes.
Porter, Theodore M. Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995. A "daring" study of the history of quantification that "transforms our understanding of the social meaning of numbers." Drawing on a wide range of examples from the worlds of science, accounting, insurance, cost-benefit analysis, and civil engineering, Porter shows that it is "exactly wrong" to interpret the drive for quantitative rigor as somehow inherent in the activity of science except where political and social pressures force compromise. Instead, quantification grows from attempts to develop a strategy of impersonality in response to pressures from outside. Objectivity derives its impetus from cultural contexts, quantification becoming most important where elites are weak, where private negotiation is suspect, and where trust is in short supply.
Rossman,
Allan J. "Quantitative Reasoning:
Argument with Data." College Teaching, 45:2 (1997) 52-54. A strategy to
help students who enter colleges and universities "sorely lacking" in
both the skills and the understanding necessary to confront quantitative
information confidently and competently. Quantitative reasoning aims to help
students develop their ability to interpret and assess quantitative arguments in
the context of practical and important applications. Course materials emphasize
critical thinking about quantitative information rather than numerical
computations or symbolic manipulations.
Steen,
Lynn Arthur (Editor). Why Numbers Count: Quantitative Literacy for Tomorrow's America. New
York, NY: The College Board, 1997. A collection of "front-line
perspectives" on the types of quantitative skills students will need if
they are to thrive in a rapidly changing society. Essays in this volume,
reflecting society at large, convey quite diverse expectations for quantitative
literacy.
Steen,
Lynn Arthur. "Numeracy: The New
Literacy for a Data-Drenched Society." Educational Leadership, 47:2
(October, 1998) 8-13.
Steen,
Lynn Arthur. "Reading, Writing, and
Numeracy." Liberal Education, 86:2 (Spring 2000) 26-37.
Tufte, Edward R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, 1983. A "timeless classic"--the Stunk and White of visual communication--that provides a practical theory of data graphics, "instruments for reasoning about quantitative information," richly illustrated with both classics and lapses in statistical graphs. Data graphics, barely two centuries old, display quantities by means of the combined use of points, lines, coordinate systems, numbers, symbols, words, shading, and color. "Of all methods for analyzing and communicating quantitative information, well-designed data graphics are usually the simplest and at the same time the most powerful."