College of Liberal Arts
Please direct all questions about the flag proposal process to the Center for the Skills & Experience Flags.
AFR 302M Numbering Race
Department of African and African Diaspora Studies
Please give a brief description of the course. Include a description of the specific Quantitative Reasoning skills that students will learn and apply within this course.
This course focuses on the mathematical modeling of the fate of drugs in the body. Along with the associated laboratory (PHR 171P) students apply the basic principles of integral and differential calculus to the complex modeling of single and multi-compartment models associated with basic pharmacokinetics. At each stage of growing complexity, the focus shifts to the impact of this modeling on direct patient care, in which the modeling allows for disease-state specific and patient-specific care in terms of drug dosing and therapeutic monitoring.
On what kinds of real-world problems will students use quantitative skills?
In this course, students will learn how to critically examine numbers produced by social statistics and presented in our daily lives. We will accomplish this goal by learning about 1) the history of race and social statistics, 2) the methods used by social scientists to understand relationships, 3) how to approach social statistics with a critical eye, and 4) the use of critical race and feminist methodologies in quantitative research. This class will cover several topic areas related to race and intersectionality with a focus on quantitative reasoning in the understanding and production of social statistics.
Courses that carry the Quantitative Reasoning Flag must emphasize how QR skills can be applied in students’ everyday or professional lives. Please describe the kinds of applications the course uses to teach Quantitative Reasoning. Specific examples from assignments or exams are strongly encouraged.
In addition to examining issues related to critical race and feminist methodologies in quantitative research, students will also be introduced to the origins of the race concept and quantitative actions that justify racial thinking and impact our current collective and individual understandings of race. The course will also discuss critical quantitative methods as they apply to the study of race and social problems.
Courses that carry the Quantitative Reasoning Flag go beyond a superficial application of equations and strive for understanding of the underlying concepts. Please describe how you teach and assess conceptual understanding of Quantitative Reasoning. Specific examples from class, assignments, or exams are strongly encouraged.
Each assignment will ask students to critically evaluate quantitative race research and social science research more generally, both in Black Studies and in students’ daily life. Students will be required to complete problem sets that include questions designed to gauge understanding of the methodological and statistical concepts covered throughout the semester, lab assignments that include questions designed to familiarize students with the estimation, interpretation, and presentation of quantitative data using SPSS and Excel, and exam that include a combination of multiple choice, definition, calculation/interpretation, or short essay questions on the topics covered for that section of the course.
To satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning Flag, at least half of the course grade must be based on the use of quantitative skills. Please describe the course grading scheme in such a way that clearly demonstrates at least half of the grade requires Quantitative Reasoning. Denote which components require Quantitative Reasoning and the total grade percentage these comprise.
Problem Sets 30%; Reading Quizzes 5%; Lab Assignments 25%; Exams 40%.