Book

  • The first volume of these conference proceedings includes an introductory talk (on why statistics should be taught), three plenary papers (discussing stochastics at the school level in the age of the computer, optimum balance between statistical theory and applications in teaching, and the relevance of statistical training), and 35 invited papers. The papers are organized under nine topic headings. These topic areas are: (1) teaching statistics in schools (6-11 years age group); (2) teaching statistics in schools (12-15 years age group); (3) teaching statistics in schools (16-18 years age group); (4) teaching statistics to non-statisticians; (5) development of teaching materials at the school level; (6) training of teachers in statistics; (7) use of calculators and computers in teaching; (8) teaching statistics with the help of case studies; and (9) training statistical practitioners. Topics addressed in the individual papers summarize the situation in statistical education around the world and point the way to future developments. (JN)

  • This book (written in Spanish) is the result of a research on the students' difficulties on learning Combinatorics and of our theoretical reflections about the teaching methodology and curricular development in Mathematics Education. It is intended to be a basic didactical instrument for teachers, students and researchers. The first chapter includes the description of the combinatorial problems, concepts and models, from a mathematical, historical and phenomenological perspective, establishing the connections of these aspects with the didactical units presented in chapter 3. Chapter 2 contains a summary of the research on teaching and learning Combinatorics that has been carried out in Psychology and Mathematics Education. Finally, in chapter 3 a detailed combinatorial curriculum for the different levels of primary and secondary education (10 - 18 year-olds pupils) is proposed. Each unit includes objectives, introductory problem situations, drill and practice and application problems with their solution, as will as methodological orientations for teachers.

  • Skill in the critical reading of data, which is a component of quantitative literacy, is becoming a necessity in our highly technological society. In particular, processing information presented in newspapers, magazines, commercial reports, and on television is dependent on a reader's ability to comprehend graphs. To meet the needs of society, industry, and business, our students must become adept at processing information. As stated in the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, children must be involved in collecting, organizing, and describing data. They should be able to construct, read, and interpret graphs as well as analyze trends and predict from the data (NCTM 1989, pp. 54, 105). This book is intended to provide elementary and middle school teachers and teacher educators with practical ideas on incorporating the graph-reading component of quantitative literacy into the instructional program. It can be used to supplement the teachers' editions of K-8 textbooks or as an elementary methods text for preservice and in-service teachers. It provides many suggestions for activities that can be used with youngsters in both small-group and large-group instruction. In support of the Standards (NCTM 1989), the activities presented in this book provide teachers with ideas to emphasize exploration, investigation, reasoning, and communication in mathematics. Furthermore, suggestions for using the computer as a tool are presented in many activities. This material can be used at different grade levels, depending on the learners' prior experiences with collecting and analyzing data. The data generated and collected by the students should be interesting and meaningful to them.

  • Teachers of judgment and decision making can be found in psychology departments, business schools, economics departments, political science departments, medical schools, engineering schools, departments of social work, and yes, other places. Therefore, it will be no surprise to learn that there are few books on this topic that are prepared for the general reader - one who wishes to be introduced to the topic without becoming fully immersed in the substantive details of any one area of application. But because the topic of judgment and decision making is of great interest to almost everyone, its applications touching almost every human endeavor, a general introduction to this topic is bound to be useful. We have included 43 chapters organized in terms of 9 areas of application. Because our aim is one of introduction, we have not included any material (with the exception of one part) that requires anything more than en elementary understanding of algebra and statistics. Each part contains a brief introduction to the material included in it.

  • This is a collection of papers and discussion presented at the Second Conference on the Teaching of Statistics, held at the State University of New York College at Oneonta, April 24-25, 1987

  • We intended this Handbook to help instructors who teach statistics and research methods, either as separate courses or in others, such as introductory psychology and advanced content courses. We organized the 90 articles into two main sections, Statistics and Research Methods, and each major section contains subgroups of papers on common themes. Collectively, the articles include a stunning amount of information. Among other topics, articles in the first section cover (a) how to reduce students' anxiety about statistics, (b) general and specific strategies for teaching statistics, (c) how to illustrate some statistical concepts and techniques, and (d) several ways to generate data sets for student use. Among other topics, articles in the second section cover (a) ethical issues, (b) proposals for designing and conducting a research methods course, (c) techniques for enlivening and improving students' literature reviews, (d) general and specific strategies for teaching a variety of methodological concepts and procedures, (e) use of computers, (f) suggestions for successfully involving students in substantive research and encouraging formal presentations of their results, and (g) recommendations for making theses and dissertations more productive and pleasant. Equally important, many of the articles in both sections are rich sources of ideas for further research.

  • This booklet is part of the Curriculum and Evaluation for School Mathematics Addenda Series, Grades K-6. This series was designed to illustrate the standards and to help you translate them into classroom practice. In Making Sense of Data you will find that familiar activities have been redesigned and infused with an investigative flavor. You will discover new ideas that can be easily incorporated into your mathematics program. You will also encounter a variety of problems and questions to explore with your class. Margin notes give you an additional information on the activities and on such topics as student self-confidence, evaluation, and grouping. Connections to science, language arts, social studies, and other areas in the curriculum are made throughout. Supporting statements from the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards appear as margin notes.

  • The purpose of Dealing with Data and Chance, as well as of the other books in the Grades 5-8 Addenda Series, is to provide teachers with ideas and materials to support the implementation of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989).

  • The purpose of this volume, and others in the Addenda Series, is to provide instructional ideas and materials that will support implementation of the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards in local settings.

  • At its August 1992 meeting in Boston, the Committee on Applied and Theoretical Statistics (CATS) noted widespread sentiment in the statistical community that upper-level undergraduate and graduate curricula for statistics majors and postdoctoral training for statisticians are currently structured in ways that do not provide sufficient exposure to modern statistical analysis, computational and graphical tools, communication skills, and the ever-growing interdisciplinary uses of statistics. Approaches and materials once considered standard are being rethought. The growth that statistics has undergone is often not reflected in the education that future statistician receive. There is a need to incorporate more meaningfully into the curriculum the computational and graphical tools that are today so important to many professional statisticians. There is a need for improved training of statistics students in written and oral communication skills, which are crucial for effective interaction with scientists and policy makers. More realistic experience is needed in various application areas for which statistics is now a key to further progress. In response to this sentiment, CATS initiated a project on modern interdisciplinary university statistics education. With support from the National Science Foundation, CATS organized and held a one-and-one-half-day symposium on that topic in conjunction with the August 1993 San Francisco Joint Statistical Meetings. The symposium's focus was what changes in statistics education are needed to (1) incorporate interdisciplinary training into the upper-undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral statistics programs, (2) bring the upper-undergraduate and graduate statistics curricula up to date, and (3) improve apprenticing of statistics graduate and postdoctoral students and appropriately reward faculty mentors. These proceedings have been compiled to capture the timely and important presentations and discussions that took place at that symposium. It should be noted that the opinions expressed in this volume are those of the speakers of discussants and do not necessarily represent the views of CATS or of the National Research Council.

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