teaching quantitative skills in the context of important global issues by pete kaslik pierce college...

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Teaching quantitative skills in the context of important global issues By Pete Kaslik Pierce College Photo: Chris Jordan

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Teaching quantitative skills in the context of important global issues

By Pete KaslikPierce College

Photo: Chris Jordan

Special Features In-class activities that can be completed

and submitted at the end of class A story that is used through much of the

book Connected algebra problems Connections between chapters Use mathematics to understand critical

issues of the day open source book

0.5 Quantitative Assessment of the World 1.0 Financial Survival 1.5 Sustainability 2.0 Population Growth 3.0 The Algebra of Sustainability 4.0 Statistics 5.0 System Dynamics Modeling

First Project of the Quarter Preparation is done while class is taught

Chapter 1 A brief example of the project will be done

now

Evaluate the topic on a scale of 0 to 4, in which 0 represents a critical state with a negative trend and 4 represents an excellent state with an improving trend.

An “importance weight” score of 0 means you don’t consider the topic to have any importance at all to the well-being of life on earth. A score of 3 means you think the topic is extremely important to life.

Alex Johnson

U.S. Population

Human Population WorldAshley Degon

Poverty USJesse Bechtold

yglesias.thinkprogress.org/.../poverty_rate.png

PrisonsKaitlyn Enquist

Health Care CostTerry Loftis

http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/spend.php

Marine FisheriesDawn Lowe

Marine FisheriesTara Smoot

FarmsMegan Ernst

U .S. C ru d e Oil D ai ly Pro d u ctio n an d C o n su mp tio nan d U S Po p u latio n

U .S . F ie ld P roduc t ion o f C rude O il (Million Barre ls Per D ay )(L) U .S . C ons um pt ion of C rude O il (Million Barre ls Per D ay )(L) U S Populat ion(R )

Sep

-191

3

May

-192

7

Jan-

1941

Oct

-195

4

Jun-

1968

Feb

-198

2

Oct

-199

5

Jul-2

009

Mar

-202

3

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

Qu

anti

ty (

Mil

lio

n B

arre

ls P

er D

ay)

80,000,000

100,000,000

120,000,000

140,000,000

160,000,000

180,000,000

200,000,000

220,000,000

240,000,000

260,000,000

280,000,000

300,000,000

320,000,000

US

Po

pu

lati

on

US Oil Production and Consumption

W orld O il P roduc t ion and C ons um pt ion h t tp: / /www.e ia .doe.gov

P roduc t ion C ons um pt ion

1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 201045

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

Mill

ion

Bar

rels

of

Oil

per

Day

World Oil Production and Consumption

Electrical EnergyDavid Snyder

http://www.iea.org/Textbase/stats/pdf_graphs/USELEC.pdf

Maria BatschiNational Debt Graph

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

http://www.cedarcomm.com/~stevelm1/usdebt.htm

Housing CostsRuss Beaulier

http://montyhigh.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341cba0553ef011570a3859b970c-800wi

Chapter 1 Financial Survival Built in activities

Sustainability◦ Discussed the day after QAW is completed◦ Steilacoom Valley Thought Experiment

Small Community - It will start with 1000 people There is no oil or other hydrocarbons There is no commerce outside of the community There is limited communication with those outside

of the community Of the 80 square kilometers of land available, only

20% may be altered by the residents◦ Consequence Project

If all non-essential manufacturing (toys, furnishings, new construction materials, etc) was converted to the production of solar panels, wind mills and similar devices, then the consequences to our ability to live without oil are…

If ocean fishing continues at the rate of the last decade, then the consequences to marine fisheries are…

If the Columbia Ice Field melts, then the consequences to farming, hydro power, fish and life in the Pacific Northwest are …

If the Federal Government was forced to eliminate the national debt in 10 years, using a constant annual rate of change (so they can’t put it off until the 10th year), then the consequences to federal programs are…

1. State the complete question with one hypothesis appearing after “then”.

2. Show relevant statistics and graphs that provide the background for the “if” portion of the question.

3. List your assumptions about the future. 4. Use original mathematical calculations to support

your hypothesis. 5. Conclusion – connect all the pieces (background,

assumptions and math) so they support your hypothesis.

Guidelines for the Consequence Project

A brief visit to the Chris Jordan Website.

Population growth ◦ Only discuss human population growth◦ Attempt to make the numbers meaningful by

showing the cities that would have to be built annually to accommodate the people For the US, not including immigration we have to

build a new Phoenix every year.

Integrates various algebraic concepts into a logical progression of sequential problems to ultimately answer a big question such as:◦ What is the most energy efficient shape of a

home?◦ What is the carrying capacity of a community?◦ How many windmills will meet the community

energy needs?

Chapter 4 Statistics Focus is on understanding the population by

understanding the sample Probability topics limited to those that will

lead to inferential statistics (confidence intervals)

Connections to earlier parts of the book◦ Steilacoom Valley ◦ Histogram with QAW weighted means

Systems Thinking System Dynamics Modeling Stock, Flows and Causal Feedback Loops

There are critical issues happening in the world. These issues require a mathematical understanding. It is time we start to deal with them in class – give students the tools to analyze the important issues.