Statistics and the Modern Student

The introductory statistics course has traditionally targeted consumers of statistics with the intent of producing a citizenry capable of a critical analysis of basic published statistics. More recently, statistics educators have attempted to centre the intro course on real data, in part to motivate students and in part to create a more relevant course. The success of this approach is predicated on providing data that the students see as real and relevant. Modern students, however, have a different view of data than did students of 10 or even 5 years ago. Modern statistics courses must adjust to the fact that students' first exposure to data occurs outside the academy.