Academic Support Programs

Faculty & Staff Support

Below is a list of services with which faculty and staff can receive support from the management of the QSC. If you would like assistance with any of these, or other services, please call the director, Laura Hollingsworth: (425) 352-5417, or email: lholling@uw.edu

Equipment check out

Equipment checkout – graphing calculators, viewscreen calculator set, molecular model set, Van de Graaff generator, and Lenz’s Law demonstration.

Interactive web tools

Online resources

Online Data Sets and Resources – links to online data sets and resources to help you manage and use data.

Integrating Quantitative Reasoning into your course

Quantitative Reasoning (QR) defined by the Association of American Colleges and Universities

A “habit of mind,” competency and comfort in working with numerical data. Individuals with strong QR skills possess the ability to reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide variety of authentic contexts and everyday life situations. They understand and can create sophisticated arguments supported by quantitative evidence, and they can clearly communicate those arguments in a variety of formats (using words, tables, graphs, mathematical equations, etc., as appropriate).

A few ways the QSC can assist you with your courses:

  • Sample syllabus statement to add to your course syllabus.
  • Email your syllabus and/or assignments to us so that we can better support your students!
  • Schedule a brief class visit so that we may introduce our services to your students.
  • Schedule a meeting with the director to discuss ways to integrate quantitative reasoning into your course and/or to collaborate in the development of classroom activities! A few examples:
    – How to Graph: effective visualization of data
    – Unpacking a Scientific Article – collaboration with the Writing and Communication Center
    – Viewing and Discussion of Flatland
    – Excel Workshop(s)

Quantitative reasoning teaching-related resources:

  • The National Numeracy Network: An organization dedicated to increasing quantitative literacy for all citizens
  • SIGMAA QL: A special interest group of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) focused on QL
  • Radical Math: A resource for educators interested in integrating issues of social and economic justice into their math classes and curriculum. Also a resource for educators wanting to integrate QL into their courses dealing with issues of social and economic justice!
  • Mathematics and Democracy: A book (available electronically) prepared by the National Council on Education and the Disciplines. Attempts to define quantitative literacy (QL) and argues for the need for QL.

Sample syllabus statement

Quantitative Skills Center

There will be components of this course that require quantitative reasoning skills (i.e. we will be working with numbers). While I expect everyone to do their own work, I also encourage you to make use of the campus resources available to you in the Quantitative Skills Center. It is a free, drop-in center with tutors trained to help students understand the concepts behind the numbers and build confidence in solving quantitative problems. You can find times when tutors are available for the concepts we will use in this course in the online course coverage schedule. Alternately you can call them at 425-352-3170, or just drop in to see them in UW2-030.

Resources at UW: