Literature Index

In the late sixties Hong Kong took her first step in introducing statistics into the secondary school mathematics curriculum as recommended by many national and international working groups in the mid fifties and early sixties. As statistics forms only a small portion of the entire mathematics syllabus, it is seldom singled out for inspection by mathematics educators in Hong Kong. We wish to take a first step in addressing this problem.

This article critically explores several issues related to requirements for probability teaching in various national curricula.

In the United States, the topic of deficiency in quantitative literacy among high school graduates has been in the limelight for the past several years. Traditionally, students in US schools have not been taught statistics and probability as a regular course. The situation is particularly disappointing for many regions of the southeastern states which, in some respect, are similar to some of the developing nations around the world. We believe a long-term solution lies in nothing less than modification of requirements for mathematics teacher certification that include minimally the statistics objectives delineated by the NCTM Standards.

The purpose of this study was to investigate some variables that relate to students' anxiety in learning statistics. The variables included sex, class level, students' achievement, school, mathematical background, previous statistics courses, and race. The instrument used was the 24-item Students' Attitudes Toward Statistics (STATS), which was administered to the statistics classes at the College of Education and at the College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa). The STATS required students to describe themselves based on a 0 to 9 scale, with 0 being "does not describe me" and 9 being "describes me." The sample included 79 male and 97 female students in undergraduate and graduate statistics classes. The data were analyzed in contingency tables using chi square statistics to compute significance of relationships. All data analyses were performed on an IBM miniframe computer. The association analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between students' anxiety in learning statistics and the variables of students' achievement, statistical preknowledge, school, and current class level. However, the results do not provide enough evidence to suggest that there was a relationship between students' anxiety in learning statistics and the other variables (such as college mathematics background, gender, and ethnicity). (RLC)