This paper describes a National Science foundation (NSF) Sponsored Teacher Enhancement Program (TEP) in statistics during the years 1991 - 1994 conducted at the University of Puerto Rico. The project evolved from the belief that statistics is more meaningful to students when they plan, experiment, collect and analyze data themselves rather than when they learn a set of formulas and techniques. This idea was first incorporated locally in an NSF Sponsored Young Scholars Program in statistics during the period 1989 - 1991 in which the author worked with talented students from high schools in the region. The experience and success of the Young Scholars Program and the education department's request to expand it led to the TEP in statistics presented herein. There are three special features of this project. The first feature is to introduce the modern method of teaching statistical reasoning to students primarily through the use of examples and class projects which are interesting to students and related to current issues. A second important feature is the comprehensive nature of training in the fields of statistics, computers and research methodology. the third important characteristic is the three year follow up phase of the project which provided time to integrate the philosophy of the project into the educational system.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education