06/28/09

StatLit News Authors Statistical Literacy Numeracy Statistical Reasoning

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.

NEWS IN 2009

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."

  • August 16-22, 2009. 57th Session of the International Statistical Institute (ISI) Durban. Chair IASE: Helen MacGillivray

  • 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 25-27, 2009.  USCOTS: US Conference on Teaching Statistics: "Letting Go to Grow" Columbus, OH
    Featured speakers include Dani Ben-Zvi (University of Haifa), George Cobb (Mount Holyoke College), Peter Ewell (Center for Higher Education Management Systems), Ronald Wasserstein (Executive Director, ASA) and Chris Wild (The University of Auckland).    Workshop: Teaching Statistical Modeling by Danny Kaplan and Victor Addono.    See Dan Brick and Milo Schield's poster: Slightly Radical Ideas to Help Students Interpret Introductory Statistics.
  • 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

  • May 1, 2009  Quantitative Literacy across the Curriculum Ohio Mathematics and Science Coalition.

  • April 30-May 2  National Numeracy Network (NNN) 2009 Annual Meeting. U. Washington, Bothell.

  • 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.

  • Feb 13, 2009.  Emerging Needs for Quantitative Literacy Across the School Curriculum
    Ohio Math & Science Coalition.  Keynote speaker and workshop leader: Bernie Madison.

  • Feb 18-20, 2009.  Winter Institute on Statistical Literacy for Librarians Univ. of Alberta Libraries

  • 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, PosterQ/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.
  • What college got a $370K grant to "Infuse Quantitative Literacy throughout the Social Science Curriculum"?

 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.  

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W. M. Keck Stat Lit Project

Ten articles presenting a general background or overview: Ten articles related to the W. M. Keck Statistical Literacy Project:

QL = Q/L = Quantitative Literacy,   QR = Q/R = Quantitative Reasoning,    S/L = SL = Statistical Literacy,     S/R = SR = Statistical Reasoning

 

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This site was last updated 06/28/09