Joan Garfield

How students learn statistics

Summary Research in the areas of psychology, statistical education, and mathematics education is reviewed and the results applied to the teaching of college-level statistics courses. The argument is made that statistics educators need to determine what it is they really want students to learn, to modify their teaching according to suggestions from the research literature, and to use assessment to determine if their teaching is effective and if students are developing statistical understanding and competence.

The assessment challenge in statistics education

This prospective book discusses conceptual and pragmatic issues in the assessment of statistical knowledge and reasoning skills and the use of assessments to improve instruction among students at college and pre-college levels. It is designed primarily for academic audiences involved in teaching statistics and mathematics, and in teacher education and training. The book is divided in four sections: (I) Assessment goals and frameworks, (2) Assessing conceptual understanding of statistical ideas, (3) Innovative models for classroom assessments, and (4) Assessing understanding of probability. Both editors are involved in assessment issues in statistics. The book is written by leading researchers, statistics math educators and curriculum developers.

The challenge of developing statistical reasoning

This paper defines statistical reasoning and reviews research on this topic. Types of correct and incorrect reasoning are summarized, and statistical reasoning about sampling distributions is examined in more detail. A model of statistical reasoning is presented, and suggestions are offered for assessing statistical reasoning. The paper concludes with implications for teaching students in ways that will facilitate the development of their statistical reasoning.

Teaching Statistics Using Small-Group Cooperative Learning

Current recommendations for reforming statistics education include the use of cooperative learning activities as a form of active learning to supplement or replace traditional lectures. This paper ...

First courses in statistical science: The status of educational reform efforts

Over the past twenty years much has been written about the introductory or service course in statistics. Historically, this course has been viewed as difficult and unpleasant by many students and frustrating and unrewarding to teach by many instructors. Dissatisfactions with the introductory course have led people to suggest new models for the course, to lead workshops to reexamine this course (Hogg 1992), and to offer recommendations for how the course should be changed (Cobb 1992). This paper presents the results of a survey of teachers of the first statistics course, to determine the impact of reform efforts on the teaching of statistics. Suggestions and guidelines for teaching these courses are offered, based on the results of the survey.

Assessment in Statistics Education: Issues and Challenges

There have been many changes in educational assessment in recent years, both within the fields of measurement and evaluation and in specific disciplines. In this article, we summarize current assessment practices in statistics education, distinguishing between assessment for different purposes and assessment at different educational levels. To provide a context for assessment of statistical learning, we first describe current learning goals for students. We then highlight recent assessment methods being used for different purposes: individual student evaluation, large-scale group evaluation, and as a research tool. Examples of assessment used in teaching statistics in primary schools, secondary schools, and tertiary schools are given. We then focus on 3 examples of effective uses of assessment and conclude with a description of some current assessment challenges.

What Does Research Suggest About the Teaching and Learning of Introductory Statistics at the College Level? A Review of the Literature

Since the first studies on the teaching and learning of statistics appeared in the research literature, the scholarship in this area has grown dramatically. Given the diversity of disciplines, methodology, and orientation of the studies that may be classified as “statistics education research,” summarizing and critiquing this body of work for teachers of statistics is a challenging and important endeavor. In this paper, a representative subset of studies related to the teaching and learning of statistics in introductory, non-calculus based college courses is reviewed. As a result of this review, and in an effort to improve the teaching and learning of statistics at the introductory college level, some guidelines to help advance future research in statistics education are offered.

Collaboration in learning and teaching statistics

This paper provides practical examples of how statistics educators may apply a cooperative framework to classroom teaching and teacher collaboration. Building on the premise that statistics instruction ought to resemble statistical practice, an inherently cooperative enterprise, our purpose is to highlight specific ways in which cooperative methods may translate to statistics education. So doing, we hope to address the concerns of those statistics educators who are reluctant to adopt more student-centered teaching strategies, as well as those educators who have tried these methods but ultimately returned to more traditional, teacher-centered instruction.

Statistics Education Fin de Siecle

Abstract Higher education faces an environment of financial constraints, changing customer demands, and loss of public confidence. Technological advances may at last bring widespread change to college teaching. The movement for education reform also urges widespread change. What will be the state of statistics teaching at the university level at the end of the century? This article attempts to imagine plausible futures as stimuli to discussion. It takes the form of provocations by the first author, with responses from the others on three themes: the impact of technology, the reform of teaching, and challenges to the internal culture of higher education.

Research on Statistical Literacy, Reasoning, and Thinking: Issues, Challenges, and Implications

This book focuses on one aspect of the “infancy” of the field of statistics education research, by attempting to grapple with the definitions, distinctions, and development of statistical literacy, reasoning, and thinking. As this field grows, the research studies in this volume should help provide a strong foundation as well as a common research literature. This is an exciting time, given the newness of the research area and the energy and enthusiasm of the contributing researchers and educators who are helping to shape the discipline as well as the future teaching and learning of statistics. We point out that there is room for more participants to help define and construct the research agenda and contribute to results. We hope to see many new faces at future gatherings of the international research community, whether at SRTL-4, or 5, or other venues such as the International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS), International Congresson Mathematical Education (ICME), and the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME).