|
Statistical Literacy studies summary statistics used in
everyday arguments.
Statistical literacy is the ability to
read and interpret statistics in everyday graphs, tables, statements and studies.
4/10:
StatLit News 2009Q1.
The latest news on statistical literacy and
numeracy.
A Simple Guide to Voodoo Statistics
by Ian Schagen Chief Research Analyst New
Zealand Ministry of Education
2/20: Quantitative Literacy in Washington
Post.
What is QL?
Test your Quantitative Literacy.
1/27:
Quantitative Scholarship: Quality Enhancement Program at University
of Texas San Antonio.
Proposal
"The Quantitative QEP includes two components: (1) quantitative literacy
encompassing basic analytical skills such as data interpretation and (2)
quantitative mastery, which addresses ways to gather data, identify
sources of error and conduct other advanced analyses. These critical
thinking and problem solving skills are the same skills used by successful
researchers. They also are tested on the Graduate Record Exam (GRE)." "...
students must satisfy specific semester credit hours (SCH) requirements of
the University Core Curriculum. These requirements includes courses in
several domains: Natural Sciences: Level I (3 SCH), Natural Sciences: Level
II (3 SCH), Political Science (6 SCH), Social and Behavioral Science (3 SCH),
and Economics (3 SCH). The Quantitative QEP would embed
quantitatively-enriched materials in courses falling under all of these
Domains."
UPCOMING EVENTS IN 2009 |
-
August 1-6, 2009.
American
Statistical Association (ASA) Joint Statistical Meeting (JSM).
Washington DC.
Sunday 2 PM:
-
Elizabeth Stuart (Johns Hopkins):
Methods for Designing Observational Studies from Public Policy to
Public Health
-
Michael
Gaffney and Jack Mardekian (Pfizer): Propensity Scores in
Observational Studies
Monday
10:30-12:30: Statistical Literacy 2009
-
Ronald R Gauch (Marist College):
Statistical Challenges in Medical Research: What Consumers Need to
Know
-
Stephen Ziliak (Roosevelt U.) and Deirdre N. McCloskey (Univ. Illinois,
Chicago): The Cult of Statistical Significance
Rebecca Goldin (George Mason U.):
Spinning Heads and Spinning News: Statistics in the
Media-
Steven Woloshin, Lisa Schwartz
(Dartmouth): Know Your Chances: Curriculum to Help Students Be
Better Consumers of Statistics
Monday 2 PM:
-
Mari Palta (U. Wisc.): Challenges
in Teaching Advanced Statistical Methods for Observational Studies
in a Subject Matter Context
Tuesday 10:30 AM:
-
Amy L.
Phelps (Duquesne U.): Statistical Literacy and Attitudes over
two semesters of required Business Statistics
-
Rochelle E.
Tractenberg (Georgetown U.): Designing curricula
supporting the development of statistical literacy
Tuesday 2 PM:
-
David Leonhardt, Shankar Vedantam
& William Alpert
(New York Times, Washington Post, Barron's):
Mediating Statistics
in the Media
-
Bill Rybolt (Babbson College): Why We Should Teach Introductory
Applied Statistics Courses Backwards
Wednesday 2:30-5:00 Numeracy 2009:
-
Daniel
Kaplan (Macalester College): Taking Confounding Seriously with
Introductory Students
-
Dan Schafer (Oregon State,
Author of the Statistical Sleuth): Formal Debates to
Clarify the Objectives of an Intro Stats Course
-
Rossi
Hassad (Mercy College): How Prepared are Doctoral Dissertation
Committees?
-
Milo
Schield (Augsburg): Statistical Literacy: Confound those
Speculative Statistics-
Robert Raymond (Emeritus, St. Thomas):
Distinguishing Association from Causation in Titles of News
Stories
-
August 6-8, 2009.
MathFest, Portland
Oregon.
-
August 6-10, 2009.
Sencer
2009 Summer Institute, Chicago IL.
"The
National
Center for Science and Civic Engagement invites applications to
participate in the 2009 SENCER Summer Institute, planned for August
6-10th in Chicago and hosted by Harold Washington College.
SENCER (Science Education for
New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) is a National Science
Foundation-supported faculty development and science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics education reform initiative. SENCER
supports the development of courses and programs that connect course
content to real world problems, and by so doing, extend the impact
of learning across the curriculum to the broader community and
society. This approach has been especially effective in engaging
women, minority students, and students who major in non-STEM
fields." "The SENCER Summer Institute (SSI) 2009 is one
component of SENCER's national dissemination program designed to
improve undergraduate education and undergraduate science education,
especially in the STEM disciplines, and to stimulate civic
engagement through the design and development of courses and
programs that teach "to" basic science "through" complex, capacious,
and unsolved public issues."
Milo Schield, VP of the National Numeracy Network, is one of the 280
that have been invited
to attend.
-
August 14-15, 2009.
IASE Satellite Roundtable: "Next Steps in Statistical Education"
Durban.
Conference Committee: Patrick Murphy, Ireland (Chair and
Joint Chief Editor, European Representative), Allan Rossman, USA
(North American Representative), Larry Weldon, Canada (Joint Chief
Editor and CD Writer, North American Representative). Richard Wilson
, Australia (Oceania Representative), Enriqueta Reston, Phillipines
(Asian Representative) and M. Alejandro Sorto (Latin American
Representative). "We would be grateful to accept late
submissions to Patrick.Murphy@ucd.ie or IASE_Satellite@maths.ucd.ie."
-
-
Nov. 12-15, 2009.
AMATYC 35th Conference, Las Vegas,
NV. Amer. Mathematical Assoc. of
Two-Year Colleges
Schield proposes "Statistical Literacy: A New On-Line Gen Ed Course
for Math Teachers."The
AMATYC 2008 survey (793 respondents): Of those answering the
question, 64% agreed (450) that AMATYC should offer course work
through an accredited university over the Internet for faculty
wanting to update their skills or refresh their knowledge in certain
areas. Respondents requesting Internet courses through an accredited
university (450) were asked:
-
which
mathematical topics they wanted to learn more about. teaching developmental mathematics
(67%), history of mathematics (58%), mathematics for teachers
(50%), statistics (40%),
quantitative literacy (35%),
number theory (30%) and other (21%).
-
which
instructional techniques they wanted to learn more about. active learning
(77%), teaching in context (45%), using classroom assessment for research
(47%), quantitative literacy (37%) and other (8%).
-
what
technology training they would be interested in. teaching online coursework effectively
(72%), mathematics software (68%), calculator usage (39%), statistical software
(34%), Blackboard (30%) and other (8%).
|
PAST EVENTS IN 2009 |
-
-
June 18-20
DD4D – Data Designed for Decisions.
Paris.
Enhancing social, economic and environmental
progress A joint IIID and OECD conference. Finding the
Story In this session we will explore how the story
begins. Those who research, who explore, who document and collect.
And who can see the bigger picture. They are the first link in the
chain of communication and understanding. Telling the
Story: A classic topic for all those who visualise and
communicate data. DD4D will also look beyond visual representation
at the connection with the main storytellers of our age, the media.
Living the Story: This is where we find out whether and how
the story is working for the user. How people use and interact with
data, how it can support groups and individuals to make decisions.
A conference for intermediaries between data, knowledge and
empowerment. We will investigate selection, visualisation,
interpretation and communication of data, and how it can be
effectively used to: (a) help understand complex issues, (b) make
data relevant at a personal level, (c) close the gap between
objective measurement and perception, and (d) take decisions based
on evidence. Speakers will be invited from such diverse disciplines
as information design, visualisation, social sciences, cognitive
science, earth sciences, the media, development planning, economics
and statistics. Participants should expect to leave with insights
into their own subject area, a look beyond the usual boundaries of
discipline, and new unexpected alliances.
The DD4D programme committee: Jorge Frascara, Professor Emeritus
Univ. of Alberta, Univ. IUAV of Venice, Italy; Enrico Giovannini,
Chief Statistician OECD; Helmut Langer, Graphic Designer, former
ICOGRADA President; David Sless, CEO Communication Research
Institute; Patricia Wright, Professor of Psychology, Cardiff Univ.;
Richard Saul Wurman, Information Designer and Founder of TED
conferences
-
-
-
March 28
Northeast Consortium for Quantitative
Literacy (NECQL-XIII) at Smith College.
Neil
Lutsky of Carleton College will give a talk: Spreading Activation
for Quantitative Reasoning in a College Community: Themes for
Variations. Rick Gillman of Valparaiso University will give excerpts
of his mini-course Game Theory as a Path for Quantitative Literacy.
Announcements by Corri Taylor for the National Numeracy Network
(NNN) and Maura Mast for the MAA's Sigma QL.
-
-
-
Jan 5-8, 2009
MAA JMM: Washington, DC.
Current
schedule
Mon. 1/5 2:15-4:15. MAA Minicourse #7A. A Game Theory Path to
Quantitative Literacy.
David Housman and Richard Gillman
Mon. 1/5 4:30
Statistical Significance of
Ranking Paradoxes by Raymond N
Greenwell, Hofstra Univ.
General Contributed Papers III
6up
Tues 1/6, 2 PM, Poster:
Q/R in the Contemporary World.
Bernie Madison, Caren Diefenderfer, Stuart Boersma & Shannon Dingman
The project includes making the course transportable, adaptable,
and more effective and creating assessments and scoring rubrics to
both measure learning in the course and to compare that learning to
the learning in two other courses, one somewhat similar and one
traditional. The innovative course derives from a collection of
newspaper and magazine articles and is organized by processes of QR
and not by mathematical or statistical topics. The project has
produced the first draft of case studies of QR-based media articles
and an accompanying volume documenting the learning results,
pedagogical strategies, and a guide for using the case studies in a
QR course is in progress.
Tues 1/6, 2 PM, Poster:
Mathematics Across the C/C Curriculum: A National Q/L Initiative.
Jim Roznowski & Christie Gilliland
Tues 1/6, 5:45 -7:15
PM. SIGMAA on Quantitative Literacy: Business Meeting
Wed January 7, 2009,
8:00 a.m.-10:35 a.m. MAA
Session on Quantitative Literacy Across the Curriculum
Organizers: Kimberly M. Vincent,
Washington State University, and Cinnamon Hillyard, University of
Washington, Bothell.
8:00 am. Making Quantitative Reasoning
Central to a PreCalculus Course. Cinnamon Hillyard* and Nicole
Hoover Slides 6up
8:20 am.
QL from a Service Division Perspective. Gary T Franchy,
Davenport University Slides 6up
8:40 am.
Mathematics and Democracy.
Kira Hamman, Pennsylvania State University, Mont Alto
Slides 6up
9:00 am. Using Media Article to Drive a Q/L Course. Stuart Boersma,
Caren Diefenderfer, Shannon Dingman and Bernard L Madison
6up
9:20 am. Medical
Accuracy: Content for a Quantitative Literacy Course. Stuart
Boersma & Teri Willard, Central Washington U.
Slides 6up
9:40 am.
Building mathematical & computational skills of science students.
Kelly Matthews, Merrilyn Goos, Peter Adams, U.Queensland
6up
10:00 am. Toward a Numerate Culture: A Quantitative Literacy
Project. D. Scott Dillery, Lindsey Wilson College
Slides 1up
10:20 am.
Incorporating Quantitative Literacy into the Research Writing
Classroom. Kimberly M Vincent, Washington State University
8:00 am. Facing Up to the Realities of Quantitative
Illiteracy. Betsy Darken, University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga
10:00 am. Achieving Statistical Literacy in
Elementary School Using Current Popular Curricula. Anna
Bargagliotti, Univ. Memphis 6up
2:15-4:15 pm. MAA Minicourse #7B:
A Game Theory path to Q/L. David Housman, Goshen College,
Richard Gillman, Valparaiso U.
3:50 pm.
Student difficulties negating mathematical statements and
translating to symbolic form. Bonnie Gold, Monmouth
U.
4:40 pm. Numeracy: Assessing Basic Skills
and Knowledge. Milo Schield, W. M. Keck Statistical Literacy
Project. Slides 6up
|
|
Click Here >>
2008
STAT-LIT HIGHLIGHTS << Click Here |
StatLit.org site: During 2008: Over
100,000 downloads (up 50%); over 100,000 visits (up 20%)
StatLit News, Year-end 2008: over 160 news articles, 144 new files, 43
new images.
Who said
this?
-
If QL is not taught in Mathematics, it
will not happen.
-
Mathematicians are least-well
prepared to deal with ... quantitative literacy.
-
Statistical literacy demands
rethinking the teaching of statistics.
-
The teaching of fractions must
be...improved before an increase in ... achievement in algebra can
be expected.
-
QR is less about the
manipulation of numbers than it is about the evaluation and
construction of arguments.
-
Quantitative literacy must
encompass more than matters of calculation.
-
Widespread statistical
illiteracy ... is cause for immediate concern.
-
'Massachusetts' is not
necessarily as likely as any other 13 character combinations of
letters.
-
The quest for statistical significance ... is a
deeply flawed substitute for thoughtful analysis.
-
When
the difference between two candidates is not statistically
significant, this is NOT a statistical tie.
|
STATLIT NEWS |
Search StatLit Site |
|
|
|
Highlights
of grants, new books, conference papers (ICOTS, JSM, JMM), and
miscellaneous information
involving statistical and quantitative literacy. |
|
STATLIT
E-NEWS |
Sign Up For StatLit E-News |
Get concise
updates on what is happening. One or two e-mails per year on
current events or site updates.
Easy opt-out option. No passwords. No other member sees your name or
address. Over 900 members. To sign
up, enter your e-mail address, an optional name (real or fictional) and
press Subscribe. |
|
|
FEATURED AUTHORS |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
GIGERENZER
 |
|
RECOMMENDED INTRO BOOKS |
-
-
-
Victor Cohn (1989),
News and
Numbers
-
-
Darrell Huff (1954),
How To Lie
with Statistics
-
|
-
-
Jane Miller (2004),
The Chicago
Guide to Writing About Numbers
-
-
-
Edward Tufte (1995),
Visual
Explanations
-
-
|
|
TOPICS |
|
Articles
|
S/L Books
 |
 |
Courses
|
Q/L Texts
 |
|
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES |
|
|
|
|
Ten articles
presenting a general background or overview:
|
Ten articles related to the W. M. Keck Statistical Literacy Project:
|
|
06/28/09
