This is a session of Topic 3: Statistics education at the post-secondary level

Session 3C (Monday 9th, 11:00-12:30,   Level 3 - Conference Room B)

Modern data and visualizations in the introductory statistics course

Organizer

• Stephanie Budgett (New Zealand)

Abstract

In today’s world, data are everywhere. Often, information is accompanied by eye-catching dynamic visualizations which have the potential to pique students’ curiosity and provide incentive to explore and ask questions about data. Given the availability, diversity, and complexity of modern data, current students require increasingly more sophisticated data-related knowledge and skills in order to interrogate data effectively. Therefore there is a need to consider how these skills might best be developed and supported in our introductory tertiary courses.Speakers in this session have been considering these issues and offer their perspectives on the following questions:· How can we raise students’ awareness of what can be learned from modern data? · How do students perceive visualizations of modern data? · What are the new skills that students need in order to engage meaningfully with modern data and visualizations? · How might we develop and assess these skills? Issues such as the practical challenges of working with large classes, effectively engaging with students from a wide variety of disciplines, and the idea of creating specific data visualization modules will also be addressed.

Papers