Quantitative Literacy Should Not Be Optional

Despite curriculum standards that emphasize statistics as a core curriculum content area and the work of Steen and others in the early 2000’s, quantitative literacy never became part of the mainstream curriculum for all students. Even the growing popularity of Advanced Placement Statistics does not really address issues of quantitative literacy. NCTM has made a promising beginning in its recent publication Catalyzing Change, which includes the recommendation that quantitative literacy should be considered an essential component of the high school curriculum for all students graduating from high school. And as students continue schooling to prepare for careers, the need for quantitative thinking and reasoning only increases, particularly in this era that is awash with data. What are some of the opportunities and challenges we face as we try to make this recommendation a reality for both secondary and postsecondary work? 

Innumeracy is rampant in the United States and has been linked with worse decision-making skills and worse outcomes in health and finances. However, objective numeracy (being good at math) is not the only important factor. Beliefs in one’s numeric abilities (i.e., subjective numeracy) should have independent effects on behavioral persistence and engagement with numeric information, with subsequent effects on outcomes, but little research exists.

In today’s talk, we’ll discuss what past studies have revealed about the importance of being objectively numerate. I’ll then present the results of recent ongoing studies concerning the additional importance of subjective numeracy. Objective and subjective numeracy capture distinct psychological constructs that support different aspects of judgment and decision processes. We can measure them or manipulate them and it appears that both numeracies have effects on decision outcomes and processes.