Flyer for Math Lit

1. Mathematical Literacy for College Students
Math Lit, by Kathleen Almy and Heather Foes, provides a one-semester alternative to the
traditional two-semester developmental algebra sequence. This new approach offers an
accelerated pathway to college readiness through developmental math, allowing non-STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) students to move directly into liberal arts
math or introductory statistics.
Through its emphasis on contextual problem-solving, the Almy/Foes text and its
accompanying MyMathLab course help students understand and practice the major themes
of numeracy, proportional reasoning, algebraic reasoning, and functions. Rather than a focus on skills-
based algebra, Math Lit focuses on solving realistic problems, teaching number sense, and building mathematical
literacy, while its emphasis on study skills provides students with a solid foundation for college readiness.
The textbook content is organized into cycles (rather than linear chapters) that take a spiral approach to covering
topics that relate to the four thematic strands. Once introduced, these thematic topics are revisited several times as
appropriate, going into a little more detail each time. An open-ended Focus Problem introduces each cycle and is
revisited regularly until it is solved at the conclusion of the cycle. Cycles are comprised of activity-based lessons that
include carefully designed tasks, explorations, and instruction - all paced for the developmental learner.
Would you like to try Math Lit with your students?
Class testing gives us the opportunity to get invaluable feedback from both students and faculty to hear what you
think of the content and presentation, while at the same time giving you the opportunity to take this course for a
"test drive". We often hear that you don’t really know a book until you teach from it and this is your opportunity to
do so at no financial cost to you or your students. Here’s how the class test process works:
• You may class test as little or as much as you like – from one or two cycles to the entire project, for
either the Fall 2012 or Spring 2013 semester, using this material in place of what you would normally
use for your course.
• We will provide you with instructor and student manuscripts, as well as MyMathLab access codes for
your students.
• At the end of the class test both you and your students will complete a questionnaire to provide
feedback to Pearson and to the authors on your experience with Math Lit.
If you are interested in class testing Math Lit with your students, contact Rachel Haskell at
rachel.haskell@pearson.com.
MyMathLab is under development for Math Lit – and the authors have created a course that can be used with pilots.

2. About the Authors
Kathleen Almy has been a professor of mathematics at Rock Valley College for over 10 years and has taught high school and
college level math for 15 years. She has a bachelor's degree in mathematics education from Southern Illinois University and master's
degree in pure mathematics from Northern Illinois University. Her passion is improving developmental math for all students
including the development of courses and content that is appropriate, relevant, and meaningful. As her department's developmental
math coordinator, she organized and led a successful comprehensive redesign of the program over the past 5 years. As a result of
giving talks about the redesign, she has been consulting with colleges throughout Illinois and across the country to improve their
developmental math programs. Since 2009, she has been a member of AMATYC's Quantway project which is affiliated with the
Carnegie Foundation. She was AMATYC’s Developmental Math Committee chair and serves on several state committees on
developmental education.
Heather Foes is currently a professor of Mathematics at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Illinois and has also taught at Illinois
State University, Northern Illinois University and the University of Illinois. Heather has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and
mathematics and a master’s degree in mathematics from Illinois State University. She has written solution manuals and other
supplemental materials over the last ten years, as well as algorithmic questions for test-generator software and conceptual
questions for MyStatLab for Pearson.
Math Lit Cycle Overview
Cycle Question Goal Focus Problem Topics Developed in Depth
Explore a situation Graphs (Venn diagrams, pie graphs, bar graphs,
Establish foundational
involving medical error to scatterplots), percent skills (increase/decrease,
skills used in all cycles
understand the role of percent of change), fraction review, rates/ratios,
What can be as well as skills
1 error, technology, rates, function basics, proportionality, reasoning and
learned? necessary to make
units, and open-ended conjectures, types of change (linear/exponential),
the course operate
problem solving. types of graphs (non-linear), concepts of
well
area/perimeter/volume/surface area, similarity
Signed number concepts and operations, means,
Develop Explore the magic exponent properties with whole number
understanding of number in baseball to exponents, polynomial basics, order of operations,
Why does it numbers and understand integers,
2 FOIL, polynomial multiplication, properties of real
matter? operations that will expressions, and order of numbers (distributive, commutative, associative),
be used in cycle 3 operations. geometric and other formulas, Pythagorean
with equations
Theorem, slope, distance formula
Build on cycle 2’s Determine when it is Theory, creation, and solving of equations (both
skills to develop worth it to buy print linear and some basic non-linear situations),
understanding of copies of a book or an e- median, weighted averages, correlation, standard
When is it reader to develop
3 building, solving, and deviation, volume and surface area calculations,
worth it? graphical, numerical, and
graphing equations, Pareto charts, slope-intercept form, graphing linear
both linear and non- algebraic comparison equations, variation, rational function modeling
linear. skills. with a basic situation
Make sense of the Proportionality, dimensional analysis, exponential
national debt in terms of vs. linear revisited with modeling, scientific
Understand large and
height, weight, area, time, notation, exponent properties with negative
small numbers and
and relationship to other exponents, solving a formula for a variable,
How big is quantities in absolute
4 country’s debts to factoring the GCF, probability concepts, solving
big? and relative contexts
develop understanding of proportions algebraically, writing equations of lines,
through numerical
size, scale, scientific 2x2 systems of equations, compound inequalities,
and functional means.
notation, and quadratic modeling with a basic situation, z-scores,
measurement. Golden ratio, order of magnitude