Numerical literacy in Biology
Faculty Contacts: Professors Michael DeBraga and Andrew Petersen (Biology)
OISE Student Collaborators: Sandra Pomezanski and Isra Rafiq
The work funded was for an investigation in a first-year biology course, where they explored growth in Critical Thinking (CT) as a result of interactive group activities. The graduate student from OISE helped with data collection. The overview of the findings collected during the investigation proved helpful in modifying aspects of the numeracy investigation that was the basis for the CT study. As a result of the work that was funded by OISE, the numeracy intervention has now been incorporated into a first-year biology course at the University of Toronto (Mississauga) and will be formally delivered in Winter 2018 for the first time. The findings suggest that the opportunity to engage students in the process of peer review encourages the development of CT.