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Steen Award
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Steen Award
The National Numeracy Network (NNN) hosts the annual Steen award. Named for Lynn Steen, one of the early leaders of the quantitative literacy movement and author of many influential works promoting QL, the award goes to the best article from the most recent volume of the NNN’s journal Numeracy as judged by the Awards Subcommittee of the Board of NNN. Criteria for selection include the overall quality of the paper, its effectiveness in promoting a significant numeracy theme or the movement in general, use of evidence-based research in QL, possible impact on teaching and learning within QL, and relevance to larger societal issues impacted by QL.
Each year, the NNN selects one article from the prior-year issues of Numeracy as being the 'best paper". The author's of that paper will receive the Lynn Steen award. The NNN President selects the committee.
The articles reviewed include only the peer-reviewed content: articles, perspectives and notes. They exclude anything that is not peer-reviewed such as editorials and book reviews.
The criteria is quite flexible, but it should uphold or advance the idea of numeracy
The results will be posted on the NNN website.
2020
The Board of the National Numeracy Network (NNN) is pleased to announce the 2020 Steen Award winner. This year’s award, selected from articles in Volume 13, published during 2020, goes to Robert Root and Sonia Bhala for the article "Effects of Quantitative Literacy on Healthcare Decision-making: An Aural Context", Vol. 13, Issue 1, Article 3, January 2020. This article impressed the committee in addressing an area that has huge societal import and one where a lack of numeracy can have profound impacts. The authors describe work on a new survey instrument intended to couple aural health literacy with health numeracy. The subcommittee appreciated the thorough, evidence-based approach taken in developing and testing this new instrument, and noted that, even if not explicitly addressing COVID, the article is timely in a period where healthcare issues are in the forefront of policy discussions. As usual, the subcommittee felt there were a number of high quality articles to choose from and wanted to make special mention of Jessica Ancker’s article, “The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Power of Numbers” as both timely as well as covering a wide range of numeracy topics in a clear and compelling manner.2018
The Board of the National Numeracy Network (NNN) is pleased to announce the 2018 Steen Award winner. <In process>
2017
The Board of the National Numeracy Network (NNN) is pleased to announce the 2017 Steen Award winner. This year’s award, selected from articles in Volume 10, published during 2017, goes to Louise Yarnall and Michael Andrew Ranney for their article, Fostering Scientific and Numerate Practices in Journalism to Support Rapid Public Learning, Vol. 10, Issue 1. January 2017. While there were a number of high quality articles to choose from in Volume 10, Yarnall and Ranney’s article stood out for its clarity and timeliness in addressing the need to foster numeracy among journalists, an issue that will have a significant impact on the global community in the current era of "fake news." It is an article that should be accessible and of interest to a wide audience.
2016
The Award Subcommittee’s report and recommendation to the Board is as follows:
The Board of the National Numeracy Network (NNN) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2016 Steen Award. This award recognizes one of the most impactful articles from the ninth volume of the NNN journal, Numeracy as judged by the Awards Subcommittee of the NNN. Criteria for selection include the overall quality of the paper, its effectiveness in promoting a significant numeracy theme or the movement in general, use of evidence-based research in QL, possible impact on teaching and learning within QL, and relevance to larger societal issues impacted by QL.
The 2016 Steen Award goes to Anne A. Taylor and Lucie M. Byrne-Davis for their article Clinician Numeracy: The Development of an Assessment Measure for Doctors from Volume 9, Issue 2 of Numeracy.
2015
The Award Subcommittee’s report and recommendation to the Board is as follows:
The Board of the National Numeracy Network (NNN) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2015 Steen Award. This award recognizes one of the most impactful articles from the eighth volume of the NNN journal, Numeracy as judged by the Awards Subcommittee of the NNN. Criteria for selection include the overall quality of the paper, its effectiveness in promoting a significant numeracy theme or the movement in general, use of evidence-based research in QL, possible impact on teaching and learning within QL, and relevance to larger societal issues impacted by QL.
This year’s award goes to Katherine B. Follette, Donald W. McCarthy, Erin Dokter, Sanlyn Buxner, and Edward Prather for their article The Quantitative Reasoning for College Science (QuaRCS) Assessment, 1: Development and Validation from Volume 8, Issue 2 of Numeracy.
The committee found this article to be clearly articulated, thorough in reviewing the relevant literature, timely in its focus on assessment, and interdisciplinary in dealing with QR in a variety of general education science courses. Likewise, the five co-authors form an interdisciplinary group as well. Furthermore, the QuaRCS assessment tool has been extensively tested, and has the capacity to be useful in a variety of contexts to help promote students' quantitative literacy skills. This article should be accessible and of interest to a wide audience, especially those in the sciences.
2014
The Award Subcommittee’s report and recommendation to the Board is as follows:The Board of the National Numeracy Network (NNN) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2014 Steen Award. This award recognizes one of the most impactful articles from the seventh volume of the NNN journal, Numeracy as judged by the Awards Subcommittee of the NNN. Criteria for selection include the overall quality of the paper, its effectiveness in promoting a significant numeracy theme or the movement in general, use of evidence-based research in QL, possible impact on teaching and learning within QL, and relevance to larger societal issues impacted by QL.
This year’s award goes to Bernard L. Madison from the University of Arkansas for his article How Does One Design or Evaluate a Course in Quantitative Reasoning? This article operationalizes all of the criteria for this award. The committee was particularly impressed with the accessibility, organization, and clarity of writing. The author also recommends a wide range of benchmarks for evaluating such a course, creating a holistic approach for assessment. The committee believes the article will provide excellent guidance for faculty in a variety of settings contemplating the implementation of a QR course or evaluation of an existing course. Finally, the committee recognizes Professor Madison’s long term and informed commitment to the QR movement, his fairness and pragmatism in realistically portraying the current challenges to QR education, the lack of consensus regarding QR definition and evaluation, and his optimism in providing solutions.
The NNN describes the purpose of its journal as follows: “Numeracy seeks evidence-based articles on teaching strategies and resources, education research, curriculum design, assessment strategies, and faculty development, as well as perspectives, reviews of educational resources, and commentaries/replies.” Readers of Professor Madison’s article will quickly see that it is a great exemplar of how to fulfill this purpose.
2013
The Award Subcommittee’s report and recommendation to the Board is as follows:
The Board of the National Numeracy Network (NNN) is pleased to announce the winner of the 2013 Steen Award. This award recognizes one of the most impactful articles from the sixth volume of the NNN journal, Numeracy as judged by the Awards Subcommittee of the NNN. Criteria for selection include the overall quality of the paper, its effectiveness in promoting a significant numeracy theme or the movement in general, use of evidence-based research in QL, possible impact on teaching and learning within QL, and relevance to larger societal issues impacted by QL.
This award goes to Robert L. Mayes of Georgia Southern University, Franziska Peterson of University of Wyoming, and Rachel Bonilla also from Georgia Southern University for their article Quantitative Reasoning Learning Progressions for Environmental Science: Developing a Framework. The article excels in all four criteria for the award. It is quite accessible to a broad audience and demonstrates a command of a fairly large literature base. This control of the literature serves as an excellent resource for others, particularly through the provision of useful summary tables with comparative definitions of QR. It exemplifies a nice balance of theory and practice with a dual focus on pedagogy and assessment that spans educational levels. The authors demonstrated how to take an important conceptualization problem and model it to completion. While the article is dedicated to learning progressions in environmental science, the Awards Subcommittee contends this work easily generalizes to other areas.