AREA B - MATHEMATICS/QUANTITATIVE REASONING CORE COURSES

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Area Requirements. All courses certified for Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning must meet the goals, objectives and requirements specified below as well as the criteria specified for all General Education courses (pages 6-8). Courses in Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning should consciously aim to convey to students the goals and guidelines articulated in CSUSM's Mission Statement.

In addition to certification by the General Education Committee, courses proposed to meet the above requirements will also be submitted to the Mathematical Science Programs (Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science) for approval of content.

1. Course Requirements

All courses offered in General Education Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning must have a prerequisite of at least intermediate algebra and must use a level of mathematics beyond that of intermediate algebra. Even if a course has inter-mediate algebra as a prerequisite, it will not satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning Requirement unless it also meets each of the following three conditions:

• It must focus on the use of mathematical language and formal reasoning in a variety of diverse disciplines, using a broad range of examples.
• It must provide some historical perspective on the role which this approach has played in the development of human knowledge and of our under-standing of the world.
• It must demonstrate a variety of methods, such as the use of abstract symbols, of numeric techniques, of logical reasoning, of geometry, etc.

A statistics component may be included which must:

• Develop the students' ability to comprehend the power and broad utility of the fundamental mathematical models presented, rather than merely teaching rote statistical skills; and
• Must indicate applications to several areas.

A computer science component may be included which must:

• Teach a computer language that is suitable for use in diverse areas;
• Teach this language in such a way that the student is led to a fundamental understanding of the nature of problem solving by combining data structures with algorithms; and
• Provide fundamental skills in the use of computers for the application of university level quantitative methods to the solution of problems in many diverse areas.

2. Evaluation and Assessment

All Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning General Education core courses shall include a clear means of assessing student learning. Instructors shall be responsible for evaluating student learning in their courses. Methods employed (e.g., examinations, pre and post tests, demonstration of specified skills, questionnaires) should provide faculty with an indication of teaching and learning proficiency. Student learning should be assessed in all sections of Mathematics/ Quantitative Reasoning cores each semester the course is offered.

• Proposals for Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning courses shall address the question of assessment and shall identify the means by which faculty will assess student learning.
• Faculty are responsible for assessing student learning in their courses and should be able to demonstrate, by methods appropriate to their discipline, to what degree students have achieved the goals of the course.
• Faculty should assess student learning in all sections each semester the course is offered.
• Assessment data shall be used to improve student learning and to improve teaching. In addition, assessment data will be used to revise General Education courses. Use of assessment data in faculty personnel actions or evaluations shall be at the discretion of the individual faculty members teaching General Education courses.

3. Faculty Qualifications

All Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning General Education core courses shall be taught, whenever possible, by ladder-rank faculty holding terminal degrees appropriate to their discipline. Courses will be assigned a librarian as a resource person to facilitate the information literacy and library use components.