%0 Journal Article
%T Measuring Habits of Mind: Toward a Prompt-less Instrument for Assessing Quantitative Literacy
%A Stuart Boersma
%A Dominic Klyve
%J Numeracy
%D 2013
%I 
%X In this study, we offer a new ¡°prompt-less¡± instrument for measuring students¡¯ habits of mind in the field of quantitative literacy. The instrument consists of a series of questions about a newspaper article the students read. The questions do not explicitly solicit quantitative information; students¡¯ habit of mind is assessed by their use of quantitative reasoning even when it is not asked for. Students¡¯ answers were graded according to a modified version of the Quantitative Literacy Assessment Rubric (QLAR) published in this journal (vol. 4, issue 2). We applied the instrument and rubric to assess pre- and post-intervention habits of mind in opportunistic samples of two cohorts of students: the general (non-STEM) student body and (non-STEM) honors students at Central Washington University. The intervention was a QL course designed around a collection of newspaper articles to provide authentic context. The pre- and post-course assessment showed no statistically significant improvement in either group. We close with a discussion of practical aspects of using the rubric based on our experience of using it in this QL class.
%K habit of mind
%K assessment
%K open-ended
%K reasoning
%K rubric
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.6.1.6