TquanT

Tools for Teaching Quantitative Thinking

01.09.2015 bis 31.08.2018

Quantitative thinking is at the heart of modern societies. Skills and programming competences related to quantitative thinking increase a student's employability and allow an enlightened citizen to make informed decisions.

Every day we are bombarded and challenged by quantitative information: How long will a journey be delayed due to traffic? What are the chances of a change in weather conditions? More important questions and decisions in life are also quantitative in nature. What is the risk of a medical intervention? What are the potential benefits of an investment? Answers to these essential questions are usually provided in terms of statistics and quantitative information. Large modern societies require that quantitative information is communicated effectively so that it can be used by active citizens to make informed decisions. However, there is typically a huge gap between quantitative information released by experts, how this information is picked up and communicated by media, and how it is received and digested by members of the general public.

Programming and coding skills are closely linked to quantitative thinking and is in high demand by employers in a society geared towards IT solutions. Learning IT and programming skills in a traditional course can be costly, time consuming, and the format and content often lacks the flexibility many students but also adult learners demand. At the same time, information and computer technology has advanced quickly and offers new and powerful software solutions for data analysis and visualization. To stay up-to-date, students and teachers must constantly upgrade their knowledge and learn new quantitative skills and competences to meet these demands. This has increased the need for new approaches to learning and teaching of quantitative thinking, particularly in the social sciences but also beyond.

The TquanT project will be conducted by a consortium of 12 European universities that will lead the way to teaching of quantitative skills and associated programming competencies. We will hold blended mobility activities that combine traditional teaching in a classroom with innovative e-learning techniques to teach quantitative skills and programming competences to international students. The blended mobility will employ interactive software tools for teaching various aspects of quantitative thinking in modular knowledge structures. These tools can be used to establish an open-access adaptive e-learning system and course that is attractive to students at all levels of education, accessible to disadvantaged students from diverse cultural and geographic backgrounds, but also to adult learners, teachers, and the general public.