MTH 1010: Quantitative Literacy & Reasoning Summer 2022 (3 hours)

Section 21 (CRN – 22198): 2:00-3:15 TR

Location: JAAC 2150
Instructor: Brandon Stephens
Office: JAAC 4079
Email: brandon.stephens@belmont.edu
Office Hours: 10:00-11:00 MTRF, 3:30-5:30 T, 3:30-4:30 R, 2:30-3:30 F
Tutoring (Learning Center – JAAC 1036): 2:00-4:00 M, 12:00-4:00 W, 12:00-2:00 F

Course Description: If you’ve ever thought, “When will I use this?” in a math class, this
course is for you. The QLR movement is founded on giving students the tools and confidence to
effectively use mathematical concepts in everyday life. Thus, this class will take math you have
seen before out of the classroom and into real life. According to the National Numeracy
Network (https://serc.carleton.edu/NICHE/qr_learning_goals.html), QLR education should seek
to develop
• Confidence with Mathematics: Being comfortable with quantitative ideas and at ease in
applying quantitative methods. Individuals who are quantitatively confident routinely
use mental estimates to quantify, interpret, and check other information. Confidence is
the opposite of "math anxiety"; it makes numeracy as natural as ordinary language.
• Cultural Appreciation: Understanding the nature and history of mathematics, its role in
scientific inquiry and technological progress, and its importance for comprehending
issues in the public realm.
• Interpreting Data: Reasoning with data, reading graphs, drawing inferences, and
recognizing sources of error. This perspective differs from traditional mathematics in
that data (rather than formulas or relationships) are at the center.
• Logical Thinking: Analyzing evidence, reasoning carefully, understanding arguments,
questioning assumptions, detecting fallacies, and evaluating risks. Individuals with such
habits of inquiry accept little at face value; they constantly look beneath the surface,
demanding appropriate information to get at the essence of issues.
• Making Decisions: Using mathematics to make decisions and solve problems in everyday
life. For individuals who have acquired this habit, mathematics is not something done
only in mathematics class but a powerful tool for living, as useful and ingrained as
reading and speaking.
• Mathematics in Context: Using mathematical tools in specific settings where the context
provides meaning. Notation, problem-solving strategies, and performance standards all
depend on the specific context.
• Number Sense: Having accurate intuition about the meaning of numbers, confidence in
estimation, and common sense in employing numbers as a measure of things.
• Practical Skills. Knowing how to solve quantitative problems that a person is likely to
encounter at home or at work. Individuals who possess these skills are adept at using
elementary mathematics in a wide variety of common situations.
 • Prerequisite Knowledge: Having the ability to use a wide range of algebraic, geometric,
and statistical tools that are required in many fields of postsecondary education.
• Symbol Sense: Being comfortable using algebraic symbols and at ease in reading and
interpreting them, and exhibiting good sense about the syntax and grammar of
mathematical symbols.

Course Objectives / Goals: Students who complete our QLR curriculum requirement
should meet the following (according to Belmont’s QLR framework):
• Possesses a flexible understanding of multiple representations of fundamental
mathematical concepts and applies them in multiple realistic contexts
• Presents accurate interpretations of quantitative information on political, economic,
health-related, or technological topics and explains how both calculations and symbolic
operations are used in those offerings
• Creates and explains graphs or other visual depictions of trends, relationships, or change
in status
• Translates verbal problems into mathematical algorithms so as to construct valid
arguments using the accepted symbolic system of mathematical reasoning and presents
the resulting calculations, estimates, risk analyses, or quantitative evaluations of public
information in papers, projects, or multimedia presentations
• Constructs mathematical expressions or computational models where appropriate for
issues initially described in non-quantitative terms
• Locates, evaluates, incorporates, and properly cites multiple data resources in different
media in projects, papers, or performances
• Generates information through independent or collaborative inquiry and uses that
information in a project, paper, or performance

Topics/Skills Covered: Most of the topics of this class will be familiar to you from past math
experiences, now all placed within practical, real-world, (hopefully) relevant contexts. Topics
include the following (and more):
• Problem Solving Skills
• Proportions/Ratios
• Percentages
• Linear Growth
• Exponential Growth
• Financial Mathematics
• Logical Reasoning
• Interpretation of Data and Models

Methods of Instruction: This will mainly be an active learning class, meaning that much of
our learning will be done through working through the problems directly. We will be using the
Hawkes Learning software (hawkeslearning.com) for the majority of our homework this
semester. Log-on information is contained in the textbook package sold in the bookstore or on
Hawkes’ website. If you begin the semester with a temporary access code, you must purchase
an access code at some point before the temporary one expires or all of your progress will be
lost. Either bring a calculator or use the calculator tool on the Hawkes site; do NOT use your
phone calculator, since you will not be allowed to use your phone calculator on exams.

The due-dates on the Hawkes site are guidelines to keep up with the class. They are scheduled
on the site to be due one week after we go over the information in class. For that next week, it
can still be turned in for a 25% grade penalty, after which there will be a 50% penalty. Try to
keep up, as there will be a lot of assignments, but keep working even if you fall behind.

Technical Support Hours for Hawkes:

Mon - Fri : 8:30AM-10:00PM ET
Sun: 2:00PM-10:00PM ET
Live Chat : 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Tech Support Number: 843-571-2825

Textbook:
Viewing Life Mathematically: A Pathway to Quantitative Literacy, 2nd edition, Kim Denley and
Mike Hall (w/ Hawkes access)

Note: You are not required to have a physical copy of the book, the Hawkes will be our primary
homework site for this course. Access to the e-book can be found on Hawkes. An access code
for Hawkes can be purchased through the bookstore, or through the Hawkes website itself. You
may want to bring a laptop to class if possible to work on Hawkes if we have extra time.

Class Attendance:
Regular in-class attendance is required. Roll will be taken every day. If you miss more than 6
class sessions you may be dropped with a grade of “WF” (as stated in the Belmont
Undergraduate Bulletin). Three tardies or leaving class early count as an absence.

Math Help
Math tutors will be available in the JAAC Math Learning Center (JAAC 1036) at times to be
posted. I am also available via email or during office hours if you would like direct assistance.

Grading Scale
A: 93-100 A-: 90-93
B+: 87-90 B: 83-86 B-:80-83
C+: 77-80 C: 73-76 C-: 70-73
D+: 67-70 D: 63-67 D-: 60-63
F: < 60
Course Evaluation and Grading
Hawkes HW: 30%
Other Assignments: 10%
Quizzes: 10%
3 Tests: 30% (10% each)
Project: 5%
Final Exam: 15%

Tentative Test Dates

Test 1: Thursday, February 9th
Test 2: Thursday, March 16th
Test 3: Thursday, April 20th
Final Exam: Friday, April 28th @ 2:00

Zoom / Covid Info

We will be following all precautions followed by Belmont during the course of the semester as
it comes to the pandemic. We will adjust as needed as the situation continues and if Belmont
changes policy. There is a Zoom link on Blackboard that we will use if we are moving class
online. You can also utilize the following Zoom meeting code for office hours if you desire.

Meeting ID: 987 477 8380

Password: 975843

Honor Code
All tests and assignments will be given using Belmont’s Honor Code. It is expected that you
accept the following honor code pledge: “In affirmation of the Belmont University Statement
of Values, I pledge that I will not give or receive aid during examinations; I will not give or
receive false or impermissible aid in course work, in the preparation of reports, or in any other
type of work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of my grade; I will not engage in
any form of academic fraud. Furthermore, I will uphold my responsibility to see to it that others
abide by the spirit and letter of this Honor Pledge.”

Accommodation of Disabilities
In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities
Act, Belmont University will provide reasonable accommodation of all medically documented
disabilities. If you have a disability and would like the university to provide reasonable
accommodations of the disability during this course, please notify the Office of the Dean of
Students in Beaman Student Life Center (460-6407) as soon as possible. Prior to my signing your
form, you must bring me a copy to keep.