ASA Recommendations on Teaching Statistics
The following quote from Sam Wilks' 1951 Presidential Address to the membership of the American Statistical Association (ASA) may help to explain why we need the variety of four distinct introductory statistics courses in our department: STAT 20000, 22000, 23400 and 24400/24500.
Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write!
See Wilks, S. S., 1951, Undergraduate statistical education, JASA, Vol. 46, No. 253, pp. 1-18. Wilks' quote is a paraphrase of a 1902 comment by H.G. Wells that appears in his book Mankind in the Making, (1914), Chapman & Hall, London, p.204.
In contrast, David Moore's 1998 Presidential address Statistics among the Liberal Arts (appearing in JASA Vol. 93, No. 444, pp. 1253-1259) is on a similar topic, but the word data occurs 43 times in Moore's address, while only once in Wilks' address.
The ASA now has a large (1000+ members) and active Section on Statistical Education. Members of this Section were commissioned by the ASA to make recommendations for introductory statistics teaching. The resulting reports, Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE), were submitted to the ASA in 2005.
The GAISE college report is certainly recommended reading for anyone who will be teaching introductory statistics in the Department of Statistics. (It's just 10 pages and packed with practical advice!) In particular, the ASA has endorsed the six GAISE recommendations for introductory college statistics courses:
- Emphasize statistical literacy and develop statistical thinking.
- Use real data.
- Stress conceptual understanding rather than mere knowledge of procedures.
- Foster active learning in the classroom.
- Use technology for developing conceptual understanding and analyzing data.
- Use assessments to improve and evaluate student learning.
Last modified: August 22, 2007