Quantitative Literacy for your CBL Project * Power & Imagination

Due: Tuesday , May 9 bring data to your mentor sessions. Final PPT due on your CBL teaching day

Persuading someone of the truth and importance of a cause is a critical skill for each of us to master. In
the midst of a political season, we become familiar with techniques of persuasion: good eye contact, a
pithy, focus-group tested message, staying on that message, establishing a metaphor, and framing the
issues. In less heated or personal circumstances we would take time to appreciate deft use of the tools
of rhetoric and a clear logically constructed chain of evidence and inference. One component of that
ability to make a strong logical argument is knowing how to understand and communicate quantitative
evidence. It is hard to rebut a good data-based argument; its a severe handicap if you cant make one.
As part of your community-based (CBL) project, youll assemble a short, 3-5-minute PowerPoint
presentation employing quantitative information to support your change agentss cause*. This
quantitative presentation should be primarily visual, not textual, employing directly relevant data in
the form of graphs, charts, maps, and/or the results of statistical studies. The data should be
accompanied by short, focused bullet-point explanations and summarizations of what your audience
should be taking from the data. (Your audience should be focused on viewing the data, not reading a
block of explanatory text.)
We would expect 4-5 different graphs or charts that form an argument supporting your change agents
ethical case for altering the status quo. The information should not be from a single source (dont
hijack someone elses PowerPoint), it should be relevant, and sequenced in a logical order. Local is
good, but not critical for all slides. Clarity in both the data and the accompanying text of if value. Bonus
points if you construct your own graphs and figures. You should have a credible and adequate source
attribution for each element of your PowerPoint (indeed, for everything you present during your
teaching session). It may span local and national perspectives. (Homelessness is both a national and
local problem, The abuse of animals both in agriculture and in scientific studies is a problem that
must be addressed, etc.)
This is a component of your CBL project. You will be given a couple of mentor sessions to pursue it; in
mentor session Tuesday youll critically assess the data you have gathered and begin work on creating a
PowerPoint (or Prezi if you prefer).

Think about what information would likely be available and contribute to an argument for your cause
and then pursue that. Arrange the information to serve your argument, not the reverse. Consult with
your mentor for likely search terms to use on Google Images. Do not rely on OregonLive, whose search
engine is useless.
*If the unlikely event your particular CBL project involves a cause that will not have quantitative
information available, you may appeal to the mentor and faculty member to be given an aligned topic
that is related to your issue but is also feasible for this assignment, and you will turn your PowerPoint
in separately.