University Bulletin 2002-03: Quantitative Reasoning

University Bulletin 2002-03

Quantitative Reasoning

Objectives

The quantitative reasoning requirement has been established to develop students' abilities to collect, summarize, and analyze numerical data; to make abstract concepts operational; and to think critically about the accuracy and soundness of conclusions based on data or on mathematical models. Quantitative reasoning courses usually embed methodological training in their subject matter. These courses vary widely in the skills that are emphasized, but they usually include one or more of the following:

A. Learning to read, construct, interpret, and evaluate tables, graphs, and charts.

B. Developing quantitative measures of physical, behavioral, or social phenomena.

C. Using mathematical models to express causal relationships and to explore the implications of changed assumptions or proposed solutions to problems in the physical or social world.

D. Collecting and organizing numerical data from archives, surveys, lab experiments, or other sources.

E. Testing hypotheses, using experimental or statistical controls.

F. Assessing the limitations of research, such as the reliability and validity of measures, adequacy of experimental design, sample size and quality, and alternative hypotheses and interpretations.

Each Brandeis undergraduate is required to take one course from the approved list of quantitative reasoning courses. This list may change, so students should consult the most recent list of approved courses in the Course Schedule to assure that they will receive requirement credit. (Naturally, students will not be denied credit retroactively if a course taken to fulfill the requirement is later dropped from the list.)

Courses with an asterisk (*) satisfy the quantitative reasoning requirement only when they are taken with the corresponding lab.

Courses of Instruction

Anthropology

ANTH 110a
Introduction to Human Evolution

Biochemistry

BCHM 100a
Introductory Biochemistry

Biology

BIOL 22a* (formerly BIBC 22a*)
Genetics and Molecular Biology

Chemistry

CHSC 3a
The Planet as an Organism: Gaia Theory and the Human Prospect

CHSC 5a
The Magnitude of Things and How on Earth They Matter

CHSC 6a