Proceedings

  • This paper presents a series of practical experiments that can be used to demonstrate the ideas of sampling at all levels, from introductory to advanced. The material presented consists of a brief introduction to sampling, the "Sample Space" star map, and two sampling experiments based on the map. It is presented in a form that can be used directly for teaching classes or for individual study. Further experiments can be found in Petocz (1990). Three of these were described in the original draft of this paper, as presented at the ICOTS Conference, and are available from the author on request.

  • Projects can be a good way for students to apply what they've learned in class. I have my students pick a topic of interest to them; they gather and collect the data; present it via a research report which is due at the end of the semester. It definitely helps their grades and provides some meaning and perspective to the semester's work. The students picked some very interesting subjects as well. All of this was explored in the workshop.

  • This paper shows some of the opportunities in primary schools for integrated teaching where statistics (and other mathematics) can easily be taught within other subjects because one teacher has responsibility for all the areas of the curriculum.

  • This paper illustrates some connections between a subject, in this case mechanics, and high school statistics. Other subjects such as geography or economics could have been chosen and would have shown similar links.

  • This paper develops some ideas from the point of view of students moving on to tertiary education and the statistical needs they will have regardless of their mathematical background.

  • This paper re-evaluates the basic notions of probability and statistics and discusses their introduction through integrated real-life themes, a method already successfully tested in schools for students aged 11-16. In effect, this approach provides a viable alternative to the great majority of school/university courses which teach probability and representational/parametric statistics virtually as an extension of pure mathematics.

  • This paper is based on a project which ran during 1988 and 1989 at the Center for Statistical Education, University of Sheffield. The purpose of the project was to produce materials both to train schools' statistics coordinators and for the coordinators themselves to use in school, for their work with pupils and other teachers. These materials are now available from the Center in loose-leaf folder (Holmes and Rouncefield, 1989). In this paper, I shall attempt to explain the rationale behind the project and to describe some of the project materials.

  • This paper considers the changes in teaching statistics prompted by this new cultural awareness. First the bilingual classroom is briefly characterised, followed by a description of two forces for change: ethnomathematics and Maori cultural renaissance. The link with the emerging holistic, active approach to statistics is then detailed. Finally the issues of Maori vocabulary, teacher education and course assessment are discussed.

  • This paper suggests ways of teaching and adapting materials to help all students, not only those from a non-English speaking background. These techniques are well-known to teachers of English as a second language but not well-known to statistics teachers. Techniques canvassed in this paper include cloze, matching, composition, sequencing, and cooperative logic. The methods are in line with the trend in mathematics education toward small group activities, problem-solving and open-ended activities. For students studying in a second language, however, group work will need to be structured to encourage verbal interaction.

  • I believe that Maori research can benefit immensely through the incorporation of a fuller range of appropriate quantitative methods to enhance the general qualitative approach to research problems adopted in this field. In the first part of this paper I outlined some of the strategies used in investigating problems relating to Maori language and cultural issues and suggested ways of applying statistical methods (where possible) to augment the analyses of the available data. In the second part of the paper I discussed a particular piece of research that I am currently involved in which looks at attitudes of bilingual speakers to spoken Maori. I attempted to demonstrate how the use of factor analysis and bi-plot graphs provide an interesting way of summarising and viewing the data which would not be possible without the use of these statistical techniques.

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