Joseph A. Montagna
The material and statistical information presented in the narrative would likely be of little value to the students. It does, however, provide a framework about which our students can learn about themselves, as individuals and groups. The framework offers a number of topics that could be used in open discussions involving students and teachers, perhaps leading to a more sophisticated use of statistics than what is provided in the lessons that follow. First, they must learn the basics of statistics.
Why should we teach statistics? Hardly a day goes by that we are not presented with some new data from a poll or study. Newspapers, magazines and television give us a constant stream of data concerning a variety of subjects. Students should learn to interpret these data that have become a part of our daily lives. Government agencies produce tons of statistical surveys, expecting us to understand them, or not.
Statistical knowledge has applications to subjects other than mathematics. While it is true that some mathematical training is necessary to deal with statistical matter in a sophisticated manner, meaningful experiences with statistics can be gleaned even at the primary school levels. Nearly every subject in the curriculum can incorporate even a small amount of statistics.
Statistics can be found in areas that require very little coaxing by the teacher to get students motivated to learn, such as sports. Nearly every student has a favorite sport or sports figure. The motivation in these cases is provided free of charge. All one needs to do is to help students discover the application of statistics to these areas of high interest. Such a strategy is recommended if the teacher deems it necessary for his class. This will enable students to build up their confidence before moving on to other applications.
The relevance of statistics to the real world can be readily shown to students. Statistics is one way that we can represent what occurs in the real world. We must present students with the basics to be able to deal with the mass of data that is thrown at us every day, for as the world becomes increasingly complex even the smallest, most personal decisions will depend on how well we understand these data. A prime illustration of this is the projections for job availability in the year 2000. Positive growth is projected in all areas of engineering and health related fields, while negative growth is projected for college professors. It would be wise to prepare for a career that has a promising future.
What follows is one way of teaching statistics. Some of the lessons are rather elementary. I am assuming nothing regarding students’ prior knowledge and experience. Only the teacher is able to judge which classes can handle the later material without taking on the earlier lessons. The lessons move from having nothing to do with adolescence, building toward the necessary skills to accomplish the work in the culminating study.
