Literature Index

There does seem to be a coming together in Europe concerning what should be taught in probability and statistics at the school level when compared with 10 to 15 years ago. There is, though, a lot that we can still learn from each other and there are many ways in which we could be of mutual help.

The ups and downs of statistics in the school academic programs in France during the 1980's.

Since 1976 the authors have been engaged in a systematic investigation of the cognitive effects of mathematics instructional games. From the outset the research has focused on identifying effective uses of games in order that recommendations for appropriate incorporation of games into mathematics instruction can be made. Three studies described indicated that games seem effective in improving student performance at cognitive levels. Suggestions for future research are offered.

Statistics courses that focus on data analysis in isolation, discounting the scientific inquiry process, may not motivate students to learn the subject. By involving students in other steps of the inquiry process, such as generating hypotheses and data, students may become more interested and vested in the analysis step. Additionally, such an approach might better prepare students to tackle real research questions outside of the statistics classroom. Presented here is a classroom activity utilizing the popular Hasbro board game Operation, which requires student involvement in the entire research process. Highlighted are ways this activity uncovers a number of research issues. A number of categorical and continuous variables are collected, making the activity amenable to a variety of statistical investigations and thus easy to imbed into any curriculum. Designed to mimic a real-world research scenario, this fun activity provides a guided yet flexible research experience from start to finish.