The Assessment Challenge In Statistics Education

This book discusses conceptual and pragmatic issues in the assessment of statistical knowledge and reasoning skills among students at the college and precollege levels, and the use of assessments to improve instruction. It is designed primarily for academic audiences involved in teaching statistics and mathematics, and in teacher education and training. The book is divided in four sections: (I) Assessment goals and frameworks, (2) Assessing conceptual understanding of statistical ideas, (3) Innovative models for classroom assessments, and (4) Assessing understanding of probability.

Assessment Methods in Statistical Education: An International Perspective provides a modern, international perspective on assessing students of statistics in higher education. It is a collection of contributions written by some of the leading figures in statistical education from around the world, drawing on their personal teaching experience and educational research. The book reflects the wide variety of disciplines, such as business, psychology and the health sciences, which include statistics teaching and assessment. The authors acknowledge the increasingly important role of technology in assessment, whether it be using the internet for accessing information and data sources or using software to construct and manage individualised or online assessments. Key Features: Presents successful assessment strategies, striking a balance between formative and summative assessment, individual and group work, take-away assignments and supervised tests. Assesses statistical thinking by questioning students’ ability to interpret and communicate the results of their analysis. Relates assessment to the real world by basing it on real data in an appropriate context. Provides a range of individualised assessment methods, including those that deter plagiarism and collusion by providing each student with a unique problem to solve or dataset to analyse. This book is essential reading for anyone involved in teaching statistics at tertiary level or interested in statistical education research.

Unique in that it collects, presents, and synthesizes cutting edge research on different aspects of statistical reasoning and applies this research to the teaching of statistics to students at all educational levels, this volume will prove of great value to mathematics and statistics education researchers, statistics educators, statisticians, cognitive psychologists, mathematics teachers, mathematics and statistics curriculum developers, and quantitative literacy experts in education and government.

This handbook connects the practice of statistics to the teaching and learning of the subject with contributions from experts in several disciplines. Chapters present current challenges and methods of statistics education in the changing world for statistics and mathematics educators. Issues addressed include current and future challenges in professional development of teachers, use of technology tools, design of learning environments and appropriate student assessments. This handbook presents challenging and inspiring international research perspectives on the history and nature, current issues, and future directions of statistics education and statistics education research.

This book presents the breadth and diversity of empirical and practical work done on statistics education around the world. A wide range of methods are used to respond to the research questions that form it's base. Case studies of single students or teachers aimed at understanding reasoning processes, large-scale experimental studies attempting to generalize trends in the teaching and learning of statistics are both employed. Various epistemological stances are described and utilized. The teaching and learning of statistics is presented in multiple contexts in the book. These include designed settings for young children, students in formal schooling, tertiary level students, vocational schools, and teacher professional development. A diversity is evident also in the choices of what to teach (curriculum), when to teach (learning trajectory), how to teach (pedagogy), how to demonstrate evidence of learning (assessment) and what challenges teachers and students face when they solve statistical problems (reasoning and thinking).

An issue in the current push for reform in mathematics education is the call to address statistics at the precollege level. This volume represents the emerging findings of an interdisciplinary collaboration among a group of mathematics educators, cognitive scientists, teachers, and statisticians to construct an understanding of how to introduce statistics education and assessment for students in elementary and secondary schools. A premise shared by the contributors to this volume is that when students are introduced to statistics at the K-12 level and provided with opportunities to do statistics that are related to actual life situations, they will be better prepared for decision making in the real world. The interdisciplinary nature of the group of researchers stimulated a lively interchange of ideas for enhancing the learning, teaching, and assessment of statistical understanding, which is reflected in this volume. Mathematics educators contribute their insights into how teachers teach mathematical ideas and heighten our awareness of the ecological needs of the current mathematics classroom. Cognitive scientists share their understanding of developmental differences in learning and present theoretical perspectives that contribute to the design of effective learning environments. Classroom teachers share their ideas about classroom activities and assessment of student learning, as well as their concerns for in-service training and workshops to help teachers acquire skills in this new content area. Statisticians offer their understanding of what is feasible to teach in the early grades, and what their view is of statistical literacy. The book is organized around four interdependent themes: content, teaching, learning, and assessment. By focusing their respective chapters on particular themes, the authors intend to cultivate a better understanding of how each relates to improvements in statistics education. This is the first book to: * address statistics learning in grades K-12, * address issues of statistical curriculum content in grades K-12, * address issues of assessment of statistics learning in grades K-12, * bring issues of technology instruction and assessment in statistics education in grades K-12, and * look at teacher education for statistics instruction in grades K-12. This is a must-read book for both practitioners and researchers involved in K-12 mathematics education.

Teaching Statistics in School Mathematics-Challenges for Teaching and Teacher Education results from the Joint ICMI/IASE Study Teaching Statistics in School Mathematics: Challenges for Teaching and Teacher Education. Oriented to analyse the teaching of statistics in school and to recommend improvements in the training of mathematics teachers to encourage success in preparing statistically literate students, the volume provides a picture of the current situation in both the teaching of school statistics and the pre-service education of mathematics teachers. A primary goal of Teaching Statistics in School Mathematics-Challenges for Teaching and Teacher Education is to describe the essential elements of statistics, teacher’s professional knowledge and their learning experiences. Moreover, a research agenda that invites new research, while building from current knowledge, is developed. Recommendations about strategies and materials, available to train prospective teachers in university and in-service teachers who have not been adequately prepared, are also accessible to the reader.

"This document lays out a curriculum framework for pre-K-12 educational programs that is designed to help students achieve data literacy and become statistically literate. The framework and subsequent sections in this book recommend curriculum and implementation strategies covering pre-K-12 statistics education"--