Abstracts

A Review of a Visual Teaching Resource for Statistics and Modelling in Schools.

John A. Harraway
University of Otago

At the statistics education afternoon of the 2005 New Zealand Statistical Association Conference researchers from seven departments at the University of Otago described current research that used statistics procedures. The presentations were recorded on video, re-recorded, and edited in the studio resulting in a DVD of 145 minutes. Statistics New Zealand contributed two further studies. Data from the nine studies were placed on a CD, and a DVD/CD pack containing the videos and data was made available to schools. Teachers at the education afternoon were enthusiastic about having access to such a resource, and this influenced the decision to proceed to the final product. It was seen as a way of providing ideas for project work in Statistics and Modelling, as well as helping to motivate the teaching of statistics by showing current research in interesting contexts. Clips from the DVD will be shown. The full DVD is available for viewing. Opinion is sought from teachers about the value of this resource as a teaching aid. Are the contexts of interest? Can the data be accessed in schools? Should there be a fuller description of the data with a list of questions for investigation? If there are positive answers to these and other questions further similar resources will be developed.


Session 1c, Statistics Education: 14:35 — 14:55, Room 446

Presentation Program