Twenty-First-Century Quantitative Education: Beyond Content

With the explosion of information and instant communication that is now available to the public, a statement attributed to Bell Laboratories mathematician Henry Pollak comes to mind. As computers became more powerful and ubiquitous in the latter part of the twentieth century, Pollak observed, “With technology, some mathematics becomes more important, some mathematics becomes less important, and some mathematics becomes possible.” As computers, the Internet, and Dick Tracy-like communication have immersed society in an environment alien to that in which many of us were educated, various analogs to the Pollak statement apply to different aspects of the educational landscape—that is, some things are more important, some less, and some now possible. This is especially true in the general education sector of mathematics and science education, where we work to move college students toward sound and effective quantitative reasoning (QR). How should quantitative education—and really, education as a whole—evolve to reflect the growing capabilities and demands of life in the twenty-first century?