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  • My primary aim in this paper is quite simple. I would like to encourage you to seek out or attempt to discern the main question of interest associated with any given set of data, expressing this question in the (usually non-statistical) terminology of the subject area from whence the data came, before you even think of analysing or modeling the data. Having done this, I would also like to encourage you to view analyses, models etc. simply as means towards the end of providing an answer to the question, where again the answer should be expressed in the terminology of the subject which characterises statistical answers. Finally, and regrettably this last point is by no means superfluous, I would then encourage you to ask yourself whether the answer you gave really did answer the question originally posed, and not some other question. A secondary aim, which I cannot hope to achieve in the time permitted to me, would be to show you how many common difficulties experienced in attempting to draw inferences from data can be resolved by carefully framing the question of interest and the form of answer sought.

  • This address will deal only with Statistical Education in post secondary institutions in Nigeria. The problems of Statistical Education can be put into two categories: (a) Problems that are near universal: Acceptability of Statistics as a distinct area of study; insufficient number of statistics teachers at different levels; balance between theory and practice in teaching statistics. (b) Problems that are culture oriented: remoteness of Africa; inadequacy of modern facilities: books, journals, computers for teaching statistics at various levels. For problems under category (a), our solutions are not any different from the ones already suggested and discussed by many eminent statistics educators.

  • In Italy 11 to 13 year old students go to the Lower Secondary School for a uniform scholastic program and to complete their compulsory education. After this students may choose to go to a variety of Upper Secondary Schools different in the length of their study programs (5, 4, or 3 years) as well as their study specializations (scientific/classical, technical, artistic, teacher training, professional training). Not all Upper Secondary Schools teach Statistics and Probability. Only technical and professional instruction provides, in some specializations and at different levels, for the study of Statistics and Probability in the last years of School (classes III, IV, V). Combinatorics and Probability when thought are always part of the mathematics program. Similarly Statistics can be found in the mathematics program, only if it includes Probability. Otherwise it is a part of the program of subjects concerned with economics, finance and so on. Reform projects have been under study in which mathematicians have proposed the introduction of Statistics and Probability into the mathematics program for all Upper Secondary Schools. At this moment the reform is still under discussion and it is not easy to predict how much time will be needed to reach an agreement. At this moment, apart from the contents of programs, the most serious problem for the teaching of Statistics in Italy is whether it is being effectively taught because of the limited preparation of teachers actively involved in the teaching of these programs.

  • In 1979, the Italian Ministry of Education issued a new curriculum for the Junior High School. Among other innovations, the curriculum introduced the teaching of statistics and probability. In 1982, three years after the first decree, an exploratory survey for evaluating the reactions of teachers to the situation and the prospects for the so-called "mathematics of uncertainty and probability" was carried out in the Venetian district. A large survey was carried out in the remaining Italian districts in 1983. Examining the obtained responses, a profile of the teachers is sketched and some answers to questions we had in mind while we began the research are given: "Is statistics taught?", "Which parts of statistics and probability are taught?', "Why some teachers put off the teaching of statistics?" . In the last two paragraphs, comments on prospects for the teaching of statistics are presented together with suggestions that, if put into practice, might improve the situation described.

  • No real introduction of statistics and probability into the classroom was really ever put into effect. The reasons for this are manifold. Teachers to whom the task of teaching statistics and probability is assigned, are in effect these who also have to teach mathematics, the natural sciences, physics and chemistry. In Italy there are no degree courses of a widely-varying subject matter ..., for which reason teachers come from degree courses of a much more specific nature such as mathematics, physics or chemistry. Thus we have tried to present the problem and bring the solution into prospect which, if clear and correct at the level of subject matter and didactics, would also in addition possess the characteristics for concrete realisation and hence generalisation for the greatest possible number of situations and teachers. Experimentation has also been carried out on the proposed curriculum in order to test not just certain aspects of content but also methodology and those aspects related to "time-linked resources".

  • In the United Kingdom, the Statistics Prize is one of many school competitions catering to a wide range of disciplines and types of pupils. It therefore vies for interest in the schools and also among potential sponsors. This paper discusses the benefits, as well as the problems and misconceptions that have occurred since the establishment of the competition.

  • This paper deals with some experiences with an undergraduate course in Mathematical Studies with Education which has in recent years been offered at Brunel University, U.K. We confine ourselves in particular to a statistics input to a final year specialist module titled "Mathematical Education".

  • This paper discusses the NCTM Quantitative Literacy Project. Teachers, and then students, must be trained to make intelligent decisions based on numerical information if our society is to grow and prosper. Such training is the goal of the Quantitative Literacy Project, which is directed by a joint committee of the American Statistical Association and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. It is the intent of this three-year project to complete the following activities: 1. Provide guidelines on the teaching of statistics and probability within the mathematics curriculum; 2. Develop a model inservice program for training teachers in modern statistical concepts and in methods for teaching these concepts; 3. Produce curriculum materials to assist teachers in the proper presentation of statistical and probabilistic concepts, and encourage further development in natural and social sciences; and 4. Develop a mechanism to evaluate the effectiveness of the materials and the techniques for teaching statistics.

  • The introduction of statistics into local mathematics syllabuses in 1984 has stimulated much activity in the field of teacher education, in both pre- and in-service courses. Bearing in mind that "the teaching of statistics is substantially more difficult than many other branches of mathematics", that most of our teachers have an inadequate background in statistics and that few of them have taken a methods course covering the teaching of the subject, it was clear that there was a need for some form of in-service education and training to help teachers at the junior high school level to implement the new syllabus. Thus a short in-service course was designed to meet the needs of these teachers.

  • The set of computer programs described in the present paper have been developed since the summer of 1984 in support of a teacher outreach program administered by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation in Princeton, New Jersey, and the Quantitative Literacy project sponsored by the American Statistical Association/National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Joint Committee on the Curriculum in Statistics and Probability. In general, the statistical techniques supported by the Nightingale programs are the Exploratory Data Analysis techniques which have appeared in Exploring Data (Landwehr & Watkins, 1986). From inception, the Nightingale Programs have been designed to support teachers who would bring statistics and EDA techniques into the classroom. The present writer has used the programs in his own statistics class at the high school level in the United States and has supported other teachers' use in science and social studies classes. They have been field tested over the past two years by students and teachers, and myriad "perfecting amendments" have been offered and taken advantage of.

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