This paper is from Session 3F: Statistical computing and communication
which comes under Topic 3: Statistics education at the post-secondary level
Paper 3F3 (Friday 13th, 11:00-12:30)
Statistics as rhetoric: why a statistics education must incorporate communication skills
Presenter
- Brad Quiring (Mount Royal University, Canada)
Abstract
While the reform movement in statistics education primarily focuses on what material to emphasize (statistical thinking, conceptual understanding); how to emphasize it (use real data, focus on context); and how to deliver it (use technology; use assessments to improve and evaluate understanding) (American Statistical Association (ASA), 2016, Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE)) one rationale behind these reforms is to design curricula that presents statistics, not as an abstracted set of rules divorced from the context-sensitive environments in which they are actually used, but as drivers of change and tools of communication. I will thus argue that a reformed statistics course should include assessments that recognize the rhetorical nature of statistics and should teach students skills in the persuasive communication of their statistical findings