Literature Index

Through its NSF funded Quantitative Literacy Project, the Joint Committee has developed teacher training programs and curriculum materials that are now being used throughout the country. The influence of these materials and methods extends far beyond a few classrooms, as many educational organizations look to them for guidance in establishing state and national guidelines on teaching statistics.

A postal survey was conducted regarding statistical techniques, research methods and software used in the workplace by 913 graduates with PhD and Masters degrees in the biological sciences, psychology, business, economics, and statistics. The study identified gaps between topics and techniques learned at university and those used in the workplace, and points to deficiencies in statistical preparation for employment. Courses requested include multivariate statistics, generalized linear models, research design and power analysis taught with minimal emphasis on probability and mathematics. Recommendations are presented, such as expanding statistical service courses to eliminate gaps, the development of intensive workshops for postgraduate students and for workplace retraining, or involving staff from other departments to provide context for statistics teaching.

Statistics are pervasive in our society yet the understanding of statistics has remained the domain of a select few. Although the majority of the literature has focused on the adult learner, there is a movement towards teaching statistics to childern. This paper addresses the ways in which statistics has been examined in the elementary and secondary schools in terms of content, readiness to learn, pedagogy, and assessment. We conclude with a proposal for how a cognitive apprenticeship model can be developed from the empirical research findings to build more effective instructional and assessment methods for statistics education. Further empirical work may highlight other components of statistical proficiency that should be modeled for learners.

Nowadays, statistics is taught to university students in many non-statistics disciplines, such as<br>chiropractic and health. In this study we examined and compared chiropractic students'<br>experiences of using two statistical software programs, one web based and another Excel based,<br>to identify the strength and weakness of each program that might influence statistical learning.<br>Data were collected through a survey of students, and analysed using the chi-squared and the<br>McNemar tests. The web based program appeared to have a good potential due to its particular<br>features and functions, flexibility and easy accessibility. Although the web based program has<br>better graphical displays, broader range of analytic capabilities and remote access, students<br>found the Excel based program relatively easier to use than the web based one. This study<br>suggests that more online instructions and explanations are needed in the web based program for<br>non-statistics students, to aid their statistical learning.