Excerpt of the GE Policy relevant to Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning (B4)
For the complete GE policy, please visit the Academic Senate website
STRUCTURE OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM
2.2.1 The Foundation curriculum must be completed by the time the student has completed thirty units of baccalaureate-level work at CSULB. Each course must be completed with a grade of C- or better.
2.2.1 Courses in the Foundation curriculum will be numbered from 100 to 199.
2.2.1 Any course that fulfills GE requirements in A2 or B4 Foundation must meet the requirements of EO 1110.
GENERAL CRITERIA
3.1 When requesting GE certification for a certain Area or Subarea a course may be the only exposure a student gets to that Area or Subarea. The course as a whole—and not the general topic or discipline—must be appropriate to that Area or Subarea and taught at the university level. Rather than GE being an afterthought to make a course fit into that Area or Subarea, with just perfunctory treatment or minimal coverage of the Area or Subarea, a course must be created around the concept of covering GE explicitly, directly, thoroughly, and significantly, integrating the Area or Subarea throughout the course. The course may simultaneously cover discipline-specific material; however, that material must be integrated with the GE content.
3.1 Because of the nature of the courses that constitute the Foundation stage, it is expected that they will be organized either as small groups or as large lectures with small group discussions, activities, or workshops. Although no explicit class size limit will be set for other GE Courses targeted to first-year students, the GEGC will consider whether the proposed modes of instruction are consistent with the learning objectives of the course and the level.
3.1 Wherever appropriate, instruction approved to fulfill the GE requirements should recognize the contributions to knowledge and civilization that have been made by members of various cultural groups and genders. Wherever appropriate, the content of courses should include examples of the relationship of human and cultural diversity to the subject matter.
3.1 In order to be approved for a specific GE Area or Subarea, the course must include:
- for all GE courses: textbooks/readings and bibliography items that clearly address the Area or Subarea being requested;
- for all GE courses: Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) dedicated to the Area or Subarea being requested and taken or adapted from the implementation document defining GE SLOs approved by the Academic Senate and maintained by the GEGC;
- for all GE courses: scheduled class topics that directly address the GE SLOs dedicated to the Area or Subarea being requested;
- for Foundation courses: at least two thirds of the SLOs, assignments, assessments, evaluative criteria, and final course grade dedicated to the Area or Subarea being requested; and
GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE CONTENT CRITERIA
Subarea B4, Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning
3.2.2.2.2 Courses in fulfillment of Subarea B4 will develop students’ mathematic/quantitative reasoning skills that can be applied in the various contexts defined by personal, civic, and professional responsibilities. Courses will focus on developing and demonstrating a general understanding of how practitioners and scholars collect and analyze data, build mathematical models, and/or solve problems using quantitative methods that go beyond CSU first-year student admission requirements.
3.2.2.2.2 Courses in Subarea B4 shall include a prerequisite reflective only of skills and knowledge required in the course. In addition to traditional mathematics, courses in Subarea B4 may include computer science, personal finance, statistics or discipline-based mathematics or quantitative reasoning courses that demonstrably address the criteria above.
EFFECTIVE: Fall 2018
REQUIRED GENERAL EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES
The following are the specific learning outcomes approved by the Academic Senate (General Education Learning Outcomes) and required for all classes seeking certification for this area.
ALL learning outcomes listed below must be included in your proposal, and covered and assessed in your class.
Learning outcomes should NOT be copied and pasted into your GE Form. Rather, they should be adapted to the course content, maintaining their intent while showing how it applies to the course subject and criteria.
Subarea B4: Mathematics/Quantitative Reasoning
Required Learning Outcomes
As measured by students being able to:
- Identify, comprehend, interpret, and communicate quantitative information in a variety of personal, civic, professional, or mathematical contexts, using a variety of mathematical representations (such as numerical tables, graphs, algebraic formulas, diagrams and so on).
- Reason abstractly and make inferences using the techniques and principles of mathematics or statistics in order to solve problems and answer questions arising in a variety of contexts.
- Use mathematical, statistical or computational methods strategically to build or apply models (i.e., description of systems using mathematical or statistical language, used for example to make predictions or describe dependence on the systems components) and interpret results in context.
- Construct viable arguments using the language and ideas from mathematics or statistics.