Conference at Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences in Toronto Oct. 30, 2019

Conference Report and links

Although the conference venue is a mathematics institute, this was not a mathematics conference. We mobilized mathematics education and health care professionals to come together, in order to discuss practical issues related to improving health numeracy education among health care professionals, patients, and their families.

Conference objectives:  

  1. Bring into focus numeracy as an evolving concept;
  2. Promote dialogue around numeracy in various healthcare contexts (home, hospitals, doctor’s offices, learning institutions); and
  3. Create a forum to discuss opportunities to improve health numeracy skills (patients, healthcare professionals and educators, clinicians). 

Conference Report: organized by scheduled parts of the day

Keynote: Dr. Tina Moore (Math Program Manager, Arkansas Department of Education) slides

Working Groups (and leaders)

  • Using Numeracy as a Thinking Tool (Taras Gula)
  • Thinking about Probability, Chance and Risk (Miroslav Lovric)
  • Visual Representations of Health Information (Farrah Schwartz and Kristin Foster)
  • Numeracy Communication (Janet Papadakos)

Panel: What do we know about engaging adults in improving their Health Numeracy (Tina Moore, Sarah Brumwell (HEQCO), Janet Papadakos, Taras Gula) moderated by Andrijana Burazin (UofTM)

Wrap-Up (led by Hanna and Liz report)

Any questions? Please email Taras Gula tgula@georgebrown.ca

Yours truly,

Health Numeracy Conference Organizers:

Andrijana Burazin (University of Toronto Mississauga)

Taras Gula (George Brown College)

Miroslav Lovric (McMaster University)

Janet Papadakos (Cancer Health Literacy Research Centre)

Farrah Schwartz (Patient Education and Engagement, University Health Network)