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Numeracy among Under Represented Minorities in Community College Education
  • Monika Sikand
Monika Sikand
Department of Engineering, Physics, and Technology, Bronx Community College, City University of New York.

Corresponding Author:monikavsikand@gmail.com

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Abstract

Numeracy is the ability to understand and interpret numbers. The numeracy skills are required and relevant across all disciplines and especially in STEM majors. The diverse group of underrepresented students from two-year community college was assessed on the knowledge of basic units of measurement and unit conversions in this study. The student performance was assessed in a lesson plan administered during The Numeracy Infusion for College Educators (NICE) Program at Bronx Community College. The students were assessed to identify different units; to be able to perform basic unit conversions; to recognize the scale of bigger and smaller units; and associated vocabulary. The learning goals aimed at developing thinking skills in reading graphs, trends or patterns and develop a habit of comparing the values of measurement in one unit system to another system of units. The students were provided tools to remember the increasing and decreasing trends in the scale of units. The real-life examples were incorporated into the learning process. The assessment was administered at different stages of learning in this lesson plan. This study will present the assessment results of lesson plan administered to a diverse group of underrepresented students from various majors in community college education. The student performance assessment in this lesson plan highlights the urgency to incorporate tools and techniques for numeracy skills across the curriculum in various disciplines of higher education.