This is a session of Topic 1: Sustaining strengths and building capacity in statistics education

The importance of attitudes in statistics education: sustaining learning processes and outcomes

Organizers

• Marjorie Bond (United States) : Session chair
• Candace Schau (United States)

Abstract

Statistics educators increasingly realize that students’ attitudes are important in sustaining strengths and in building capacities in statistics education. This session combines brief presentations of original research on attitudes toward statistics and their implications for statistics education and a mini-panel discussion with the audience about questions and interests regarding attitudes toward statistics. Much of the research included in this session employed the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics (SATS) as the measure of student attitudes. Our presentations focus on two broad topics. The first examines some of the issues associated with using survey scores to assess students’ attitudes including, for example, the timing of administering the survey. The second topic investigates the use of students’ attitudes as an important outcome when evaluating instructional approaches to teaching introductory statistics. Candace Schau will lead the subsequent discussion around a number of questions regarding the importance of students’ attitudes toward statistics.

Papers