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Re: [Phys-l] innumeracy

I agree, and it's only getting worse. It's a society thing. People are
willing to pay $$$ to be entertained (sports, movies, etc.). Look at what
teachers make. Look at the salary of the US President. Learning science
requires abstract thinking -- hard work!

I find that most people ("bright" students, included) are scientifically
illiterate. Limited knowledge of basic science. Very discouraging. What to
do? I don't know. I try to make physics interesting and relevant to their
lives. Make them take ownership of their learning (e.g. peer instruction).
Do demos and activities. Less emphasis on math and "getting the right
answer." Most importantly, I teach them how to think in order to be
lifelong learners. They'll forget the formulas after graduation, but
(hopefully) they will be able to think critically -- to solve problems
they've never seen before...

Forum for Physics Educators <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu> writes:
Come on, this isn't really rocket science, but you reply as if it
were. You quibble over semantics but in reality it is a serious
problem. The public will support building a sports stadium using
hundreds of millions in tax dollars but will reject a school budget over
a few thousand dollars for a lunch program or a science lab. The
general public is numerically illiterate when it comes to things that
affect them locally but can recite numbers and statistics about things
that have liittle or no immediate effect over their lives: the latest
is the value of Michael Jackson's estate and will it be sold off. Who
cares? Evidently thousands of people care, judging from the responses
on the afternoon talk tv shows. . One hundred thousand people will
go out into the pouring rain to see a professional football game, but
will not drive five minutes to vote on school boards or council. When
the paper reports on salary negotiations with a star player they get
hundreds of letters, but when the paper reports on the state test scores
or SAT scores for all the districts in an area, nary a peep from the
same people.
How much did some diva's dress cost at the oscars? exciting news for
millions of viewers. Cost of the Superconductor at Fermi lab?
boring to most.

very discouraging.


Marty



John M Clement wrote:

Numerically illiterate is not innumeracy. Technically numeracy is the
understanding of numbers, not literacy in particular areas such as
geographical numbers... While understanding things like the budget
requires both interest in the budget and numeracy. The US budget does
not impinge on daily life so it is fairly irrelevant to most people.
Also the population of a given area is generally irrelevant to common
every day life.

People generally can not tell you where the names for the days of the
week came from, the time it takes for light to travel from the sun to
the Earth, the location of Austria, the date (within 20 years) of the
Civil War, the name of the secretary of state... All of these are
illiteracy, but not innumeracy. How many can name the composer of La
Boheme? Or where did Dante put Lucifer? What colors are a Monarch
butterfly? Or how about the sign "Ye olde coffe shop", how was it
pronounced in old English? "The olde coffe shop", because the Y was
originally a thorn, with a dot over the y, which was an old English
letter pronounced th.

It depends on what you wish to define as being literate, and in what
context. While numeracy is important to understanding many numbers in
context, it is really a separate thing from knowing specific numbers.
Anyone who is numerate can understant how many millions are in a
billion, but may not know the national budget numbers.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX





Think of it this way.... ask the man on the street about
points
or salaries in any sport and he can talk your ears off about
over/under,
point spread betting on the game, how much money the wide receiver
gets,
the longest field goal ever made, and a host of other trivial (to
us)
nonsense. But, ask him about the local school budget or how much
money
is allocated for a highway project, or even money spent daily on the
war, and you will get blank stares.

This entire country is numerically illiterate except for sports
trivia!

This happens every day at the gym I go to. If the conversation
is
on sports it draws a dozen people. Once someone turns to any other
topic involving numbers most of them drift away.


Marty

Rick Tarara wrote:



Common now John, the population of the country you live in, the world
you
live on, that cities have millions of people--thus is not specialized
knowledge. These numbers effect almost every field of study--if
only to
estimate how many books your memoirs might sell! You are sounding
like an
apologist for ignorance. ;-(

Rick

----- Original Message -----
From: "John M Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>




This question is not a test of innumeracy, except possibly at the
ends
of the spectrum. It is a test of crystallized knowledge. A real
test
for numeracy is to have people compare numbers like 0.5 and 3/8. The
population of a given area is what might be called common shared
knowledge.




_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l





_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l



_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l




_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l