A retrospective on statistics education, presented at the 10th anniversary of the University of Minnesota's graduate program in Statistics Education

1. A Statistics Carol
A Ghost Story of Statistics Education

2. The grumpy old
statistics teacher

3. A Visit from the Ghost of
Statistics Education Past

4. ASA: Fred Mosteller
Chervaney, N., Collier, R., Fienberg, S.,
Johnson, P & Neter, J. (1977). A framework
.,
for the development of measurement
instruments for evaluating the introductory
statistics course. The American Statistician,
31, 17–23.
Plans for first NCTM Yearbook on teaching
statistics
Interest in the UK
Center for Statistics Education
Teaching Statistics (Journal)
4

5. But Where could Someone Study
Statistics Education?
No graduate programs
No graduate courses
Some articles here and there, across
journals, disciplines and libraries
5

6. The First Ph.D. Thesis (?)
Mike Shaughnessy
Michigan State University
Department of Mathematics
6

7. The Second Ph.D. Thesis (?)
Joan Garfield
University of Minnesota
Educational Psychology
7

8. A Seminar on Difficulties
Learning Statistics
Andrew 'Chick' Ahlgren and Joan Garfield
assembled faculty from 11 different
departments
Anthropology Applied Statistics
Biostatistics Business
Curriculum and Instruction Educational Psychology
General College Mathematics Education
Psychology Sociology
Theoretical Statistics
8

9. Two More Dissertations
Completed
Cliff Konold
University of Massachusettes,
Amherst
Robert delMas
University of Minnesota
9

10. Trying to Make Connections
No conferences (except ICOTS 1) or journals
for publishing statistics education research
Networks
The 'Probability Ghetto' (at mathematics
education conferences
International Study Group for Learning
Probability and Statistics
10

11. How was Statistics being Taught?
Little research and no connections
from research to teaching practice
+
Mostly without technology
+
Mostly calculations
+
A lot of probability
Unhappy statistics students
11

12. But Things Began to Change
More interest by ASA, MAA, NCTM
The Quantitative Literacy Project
Journal of Statistics Education
IASE is created and grows
Funding by NSF
Creation of innovative new courses
Influential calls for reform in the teaching of
statistics (George Cobb, David Moore)
12

13. The First Graduate Program in
Statistics Education is Established
The Quantitative Methods in Education track
in Educational Psychology approves a new
area of concentration and three new
graduate courses in statistics education
Mailings sent out to recruit students for the
program and about the first course offering
One student applies and is accepted.
13

14. A Visit from the Ghost of
Statistics Education Present

15. The first stat ed course is taught
Becoming a Teacher of Statistics
Fall 2002

16. Things Keep Improving
Two new statistics education journals
SERJ
TISE
CAUSE is launched
USCOTS is launched
IASE activities and ICOTS grows
16

17. The Statistics Education Graduate
Program Grows
Number of faculty has quadrupled
Students apply, graduate and get jobs
Grants are awarded
Many publications, presentations, workshops
17

18. Students and Degrees
17 admitted students (15 enrolled)
2 M.A.
15 Ph.D.
5 Degrees awarded
1 M.A.
4 Ph.D.
3 statistics education minors awarded to
students outside of the department
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19. Graduation 2012
19

20. Courses
Becoming a Teacher of Statistics course
Taught 9 times (5 classroom/4 online)–93 students
across the university and United States
Statistics Education Research Seminar
Taught 6 times (classroom)–39 students
2 published journal articles
Statistics Teaching Internship
Taken by 10 students
21

21. Invited Speakers
Dani Ben-Zvi Robert Gould Tamara Moore
Michael Bulmer Bill Harkness Dennis Pearl
Beth Chance Nicholas Horton Michael Rodriguez
George Cobb Daniel Kaplan Allan Rossman
Robert delMas Cliff Konold Daniel Schwartz
Bill Finzer Julie Legler Laurie Snell
Christine Franklin Richard Lesh Chris Wild
Amy Froehlich Robin Lock
Iddo Gal Xiao-Li Meng
22

22. It has been a Productive 10 Years...
24 grants (internal and national) totaling
$3,766,346
40 journal articles
16 book chapters
4 books
106 conference presentations/posters
22 workshops
46 invited webinars/seminars/professional talks
23

23. ...Even for Our Students
7 published journal articles or book chapters
that graduate students have co-authored
27 conference presentations/posters co-
presented
2 workshops co-presented
8 invited webinars/seminars/professional
talks co-presented
24

24. ...Really Productive.
25

25. We are an Award Winning
Program...
1 national award for the statistics education
program (AP A)
6 national faculty awards
4 graduate student teaching awards
26

26. ...that Believes in Professional
Service
10 elected or appointed positions held in
statistics education (6 currently)
7 associate editor positions (on Statistics
Education journals)
3 current editor/co-editor positions (on
Statistics Education journals)
8 assessment instruments developed for use
by the statistics education community
27

27. And our Mission is to Promote
Change to Improve the Teaching
and Learning of Statistics
"Never doubt that a small group
of thoughtful, committed
citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it's the only thing that
ever has.
"
- Margaret Mead
28

28. The Present is Pretty Good
Better connections between research and
practice
Many new ideas and curricula
Continued emphasis on improved pedagogy
ASA endorsed Guidelines for Graduate
Programs in Statistics Education (2009)
Better assessments to evaluate student
learning
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29. A Visit from the Ghost of
Statistics Education Yet to Come

30. The Future is Even More
Promising
Graduates of statistics education research
programs going off into the world
New graduate programs and courses being
designed and launched
More conferences devoted to better teaching of
statistics
USCOTS (Making Change Happen)
eCOTS
National survey on statistics teaching (e-ATLAS
Project) 31

31. Message to the Grumpy Statistics
Teacher
Open your eyes, its an exciting time
New prestige for statistics
Exciting new data
Many great resources
A thriving statistics education community
There is NO EXCUSE for not taking the
teaching of statistics seriously and striving
to be an excellent teacher
32

32. The grumpy
statistics teacher
was grumpy no
more, but taught
with renewed vigor,
using research-
based classroom
and assessment
practices.

33. And this Optimistic View of the
Future is Possible Because...
All of you contributed to it!
After 10 years of having the only graduate
program in statistics education we are
excited to see other programs getting ready
to admit students.
Thank you!
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