Statistics education

Statistics education is the practice of teaching and learning of statistics, along with the associated scholarly research.

Statistics is both a formal science and a practical theory of scientific inquiry, and both aspects are considered in statistics education. Education in statistics has similar concerns as does education in other mathematical sciences, like logic, mathematics, and computer science. At the same time, statistics is concerned with evidence-based reasoning, particularly with the analysis of data. Therefore, education in statistics has strong similarities to education in empirical disciplines like psychology and chemistry, in which education is closely tied to "hands-on" experimentation.

Mathematicians and statisticians often work in a department of mathematical sciences (particularly at colleges and small universities). Statistics courses have been sometimes taught by non-statisticians, against the recommendations of some professional organizations of statisticians and of mathematicians.

Statistics education research is an emerging field that grew out of different disciplines and is currently establishing itself as a unique field that is devoted to the improvement of teaching and learning statistics at all educational levels.

Statistics educators have cognitive and noncognitive goals for students. For example, former American Statistical Association (ASA) President Katherine Wallman defined statistical literacy as including the cognitive abilities of understanding and critically evaluating statistical results as well as appreciating the contributions statistical thinking can make.

In the text rising from the 2008 joint conference of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction and the International Association of Statistics Educators, editors Carmen Batanero, Gail Burrill, and Chris Reading (Universidad de Granada, Spain, Michigan State University, USA, and University of New England, Australia, respectively) note worldwide trends in curricula which reflect data-oriented goals. In particular, educators currently seek to have students: "design investigations; formulate research questions; collect data using observations, surveys, and experiments; describe and compare data sets; and propose and justify conclusions and predictions based on data." The authors note the importance of developing statistical thinking and reasoning in addition to statistical knowledge.

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