Table of Contents

1. Project Group Meetings PME Haifa, Israel, July 99

The Project Group met twice during the Conference. Over 30 people attended the first meeting, which provided a useful opportunity to summarise many of the important contact points in stochastics research for people who were new to the field. You will see the results of this discussion later in this Newsletter.

The original purpose of this group was to work towards the production of a book which would make research insights into the teaching and learning of statistics readily available to teachers at all levels. Unfortunately, this has proved to be impracticable because we do not have a sufficient number of authors to cover the topics required. We have therefore decided to put the book project onto Hold.

However, it was clear that the group and its newsletter was also able to provide a useful focal point for discussion on specific topics in stochastics research at PME meetings. We have therefore decided to ask the PME Executive for approval to convert the group into a Discussion Group.

Dani Ben-Zvi [Israel] will take over from John Truran [Australia] as principal co-ordinator. Brian Greer [Northern Ireland] has joined the group of co-ordinators to replace Carmen Batanero [Spain] who has resigned owing to pressure of other work. Brian works in Psychology at Queen’s University, Belfast, and has a long background of research into data handling, to say nothing of his sharp and incisive brain. We welcome him to the Group. John will continue to be responsible for the Newsletter. Kath remains in the group in an advisory capacity, but she already knows she is not able to attend PME in 2000.

2. Thank you, Carmen Batanero

Carmen has been one of the co-ordinators of this Group for several years. She is now President-Elect of the International Association for Statistical Education [IASE], and so has decided to withdraw from her work with PME for the time being.

She is a woman of tireless energy and great determination who has done much for stochastics education research already, and will undoubtedly do much more.

We want to acknowledge the help that she has given this group in its early stages, and to thank her for all she has done.

3. Stochastics Presentations at PME

There were 11 presentations of various kinds this year. Titles were provided in the last Newsletter; abstracts are published in the International Study Group Newsletter [Vol. 12, No. 3].

4. PME 24

The next meeting of PME will be at Hiroshima, Japan from 23-27 July, 2000. This will finish just before ICME-9 in Tokyo. Details can be obtained from the PME24 website.

It is our intention to choose one topic and to use this as a basis for two meetings of a Discussion Group. For 2000 the topic will be “The Relationship between Stochastical and Mathematical Thinking, Learning, and Teaching”. Brief presentations will be prepared beforehand to ensure that a rich discussion ensues. Dani and Brian will plan this.

5. ICME Topic Group 9 - “Statistics and Statistical Education for the Year 2000 Plus”

Papers are particularly invited on statistical education for children aged 11-18, students in higher education, and also for adults, and which fall into one of the following categories:

If you want to submit an abstract for a paper, please contact to organiser:

6. ICOTS6 - “Developing a Statistically Literate Society"

This will be held in Durban, South Africa, during mid July 2002. The IASE will make a special effort to attract African participation, and in particular will offer some financial assistance to delegates from African developing nations. It is also planned that there will be strong participation from local school teachers.

ICOTS6 Web-site

Any comments or offers of help may be sent to the following IPC Executive members:

Maria Gabriella Ottaviani

Brian Phillips

Dani Ben-Zvi

Proposed Topics and Conveners

7. Statistical Reasoning Thinking and Literacy (SRTL) at Kibbutz Be’eri, Israel, July 99

The First International Research Forum on SRTL was held in Kibbutz Be’eri (where Dani Ben-Zvi lives), located in the beautiful northwest Negev hills, near the Gaza Strip, a one hour drive from Tel-Aviv, in Israel.

This gathering took place under the umbrellas of the International Study Group for Research on Learning Probability and Statistics and the IASE. It was sponsored by the University of Minnesota, the Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger Conference Foundation at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Kibbutz Be’eri. The Forum was co-chaired by Joan Garfield (University of Minnesota, USA) and Dani Ben-Zvi (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel), who are currently Vice-Presidents of the IASE.

The Forum met for five days, to share their work, discuss important issues, and initiate collaborative projects. Sessions were held informally (110 minutes for each presentation), with a high level of interaction - given the group size. The sessions’ themes and presenters were:

We also had a group of discussants, who discussed and reflected on the presentations. These were: Janet Ainley (UK), Maya Bar-Hillel (Israel), Herman Callaert (Belgium), Brian Greer (Northern Ireland), Brian Phillips (Australia), and Laurie Snell (USA).

We experimented in using videos of classroom work, or students’ interviews, as a way to present, discuss and argue about parts of the research work, we are immersed in. We have learnt that videos have much to offer, and also that there is much to learn about the use of videos, both as a research tool and as a way to share our work.

The unique Kibbutz setting offered modern and excellent facilities, warm hospitality, and opportunities to tour the surrounding area. During the week we managed to take time out from our discussions to visit the Weizmann Institute of Science, where some of our colleagues gave a presentation to the mathematics and science education department. We also paid a tribute to Efraim Fischbein’s memory, by taking part in a commemoration ceremony, which took place in Tel-Aviv University. Joan Garfield, representing IASE, emphasised in her talk Fischbein’s direct contribution to those of us working in the field of stochastics teaching and learning.

Our forum was very successful and is planned to lead to an edited book on Statistical Reasoning, Thinking and Literacy. The book will summarise the work presented, discussions conducted on theoretical, methodological, pedagogical, assessment, literacy and communication emerging issues.

This was only the beginning of a very exciting and promising line of research. There is much work to be done. We hope to offer new or expanded networks, an e-mail discussion list, and a second Research Forum (SRTL-2) in the year 2001.

If you would like to learn more about our forum, or offer your contribution, please visit the SRTL Website, or contact Joan Garfield or Dani Ben-Zvi.

8. Resources for People Starting Stochastics Research

We had a number of new members this time, and part of our first meeting was spent in outlining useful resources, which might be missed in standard literature searches. Here is the list, which we put together. If any readers have other basic sources, which they think should be included, please let us know and we shall publish a supplement next time.

Summary References

Organisations

IASE—International Association for Statistical Education

IASE Web-site. IASE is devoted to the development and improvement of statistical education on a world-wide basis. It has a three-fold role:

IASE organises a number of conferences and meetings on a regular basis, of which ICOTS (see above) is the most relevant to this group.

Small Round-Table Meetings have also been held after ICME Congresses on themes like "The University Teaching of Statistics in Developing Countries", "New Techniques of Statistical Training", "The Impact of Calculators and Computers on Teaching Statistics", "Training Teachers to Teach Statistics", and "Introducing Data Analysis in Schools–who should teach it and how". The 1996 conference was held in Granada, Spain, on "Research on the Role of Technology in Teaching and Learning Statistics". The theme for Japan in 2000 will be: "Training Researchers in the Use of Statistics".

Journals

Teaching Statistics is a major resource for teachers of students aged 9 to 19, published 3 times a year. Teaching Statistics Website.

Regular features include: Classroom Notes; Computing Corner; Curriculum Matters; Data Bank; Net Benefits; Practical Activities; Project Parade; Research Report; Standard Errors; Statistics at Work; Book Reviews; Letters and News and Notes.

Statistical Education Research Group Newsletter

This newsletter will commence in January 2000 and will be available via the IASE’s Web Site. All members of the IASE will be sent an e-mail when each edition is published, which will contain a table of contents.

International Study Group Newsletter (no longer being produced)

This newsletter was the precursor of the Statistical Education Research Group Newsletter. It contains abstracts of many publications and theses, some bibliographies, and news about members of the list. It is still accessible and relevant, and may be viewed at: http://www.ugr.es/~batanero/iase.html.

Internet Resources

ActivStats

ActivStats is a multimedia book, written by Paul Velleman (Cornell Univ.), including DateDesk - data analysis software. Find it at:
http://www.datadesk.com/ActivStats/

Research on the Role of Technology in Teaching and Learning Statistics

Papers from the 1996 Round Table Conference of IASE, Granada, Spain. Find it at: http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7Echance/teaching_aids/IASE/cover.html

The Journal of Statistics Education

Website at: http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/. The Journal of Statistics Education is principally concerned with tertiary and applied statistics teaching. Special interests are: curricular reform in statistics, the use of cooperative learning and projects, innovative methods of instruction, assessment, research (including case studies) on students' understanding of probability and statistics, research on teaching of statistics, and attitudes and beliefs about statistics.

Regular features include "Teaching Bits” which summarises interesting current events and research that can be used as examples in the statistics classroom and "Datasets and Stories" which identifies interesting datasets and describes their useful pedagogical features and also enables instructors to download the datasets to their own computers for further analysis or dissemination to students.

Associated with the Journal of Statistics Education is the JSE Information Service. The JSE Information Service provides a source of information for teachers of statistics that includes the archives of EdStat-L (an electronic discussion list on statistics education) and several other e-mail lists, an archive of free SAS macros, information about the International Association for Statistical Education, and links to many other statistics education sources.

Other

Special Issue of Mathematical Thinking and Learning

Brian Greer (Northern Ireland) is editing a special issue of Mathematical Thinking and Learning. This will contain a number of articles on stochastics education. For more information contact Brian Greer.

Dave Pratt (UK) and Janet Ainley (UK) have been appointed editors of the Special Issue of ESM on Data Handling. Contact Janet Ainley for further information.

9. Maintaining the List

Currently we have a mailing list of about 80 members around the world. It is possible that you are receiving this letter, but your interests have moved into other fields. If you would prefer to be removed from the mailing list, please contact Dani Ben-Zvi.

10. Administrivia

You will notice that the title of this Newsletter has slightly changed, because of the change of our status within PME.

11. Next Newsletter

This is planned for early December. Material for publication by 30 Nov, please, to John.