Review of Case Studies for Quantitative Reasoning: A Casebook of Media Articles by Bernard L. Madison, Stuart Boersma, Caren L. Diefenderfer, and Shannon W. Dingman

Abstract

Bernard L. Madison, Stuart Boersma, Caren L. Diefenderfer, and Shannon W. Dingman. Case Studies for Quantitative Reasoning: A Casebook of Media Articles (Pearson Learning Solutions, 2012). 215 pp. ISBN 9781256512875. Concisely organized and timely to a tee, Case Studies for Quantitative Reasoning contains a wealth of articles and exercises to promote higher-order thinking in any course where quantitative literacy is a goal. The text is a self-contained package complete with just enough mathematics to ensure that all students can join in. It contains a total of twenty-four case studies, each of which highlights how numbers appear in day-to-day media. The text is broken into six broad mathematical topics, each of which includes any background mathematics necessary for reading. Each individual study includes warm-up exercises and follow-up questions that demand critical thinking. Notwithstanding the elementary mathematics prerequisite to read the text, the topics and questions are sufficiently challenging to keep a class – and accompanying instructor – engaged for an entire semester.

Keywords

• book review
• numeracy
• quantitative literacy
• media articles