A travel lab component in elementary statistics is envisioned as a statistics lab within the context of a foreign setting. This paper will focus on why this is important and how the learning of statistics can be enhanced due to participation in such a lab. The travel lab component to Nicaragua in 2000 dealt with the extreme poverty among women and children. In Cuba in 2002, it will be on the status of women in contemporary Cuba. Many students appear to have an interest in humanitarian issues and even expect to see values discussed in their college courses. Thus they find this application of statistics in social context not only interesting but also relevant. I believe that through this type of travel component the utility of statistics becomes evident and students are better able to appreciate statistics studied and used in context.
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