ISI - International Statistical Institute
Newsletter Volume 26, No. 3 (78) 2002
Update on the World Numeracy Project
During the past 14 months, several decisions have been made concerning the World Numeracy Project, based on feedback from meetings during the ISI Biennial Session in Seoul, e-mails from numerous individuals, and discussion among the IASE Executive Committee. First, it was decided to change the name of the project to the “International Statistical Literacy Project”, with an abbreviation of “ISLP”. It was also decided that the first project of the ISLP would be to work with Professor Yadolah Dodge (Université de Neuchâtel) to include more statistics education terms in the new edition of the ISI Dictionary of Statistical Terms. This project has been completed.
It was further decided by the IASE Executive Committee that the next project of the ISLP would be the creation of a website. Several other possible projects were discussed, but were rejected either because they were too big or too expensive to implement. It was also decided to form an Advisory Committee for the ISLP to guide the project over the next few years.
The members of the Advisory Committee are Carol Joyce Blumberg (USA, Chair), Beverley Carlson (USA/Chile), Iddo Gal (Israel), Orhan Güvenen (Turkey), John Harraway (New Zealand), Peter Holmes (UK), Maria A. Pannone (Italy), René Padieu (France) and Gilberte Schuyten (Belgium). Ex-Officio members of the Committee are: Carmen Batanero (Spain, IASE President), Christopher Wild (New Zealand, IASE President-Elect), Marcel Van den Broecke (Director, ISI Permanent Office), and Daniel Berze (Assistant Director, ISI Permanent Office). The Advisory Committee met on 11 July 2002 in Cape Town, South Africa and made several decisions with respect to the webpage project.
It has been decided to have the focus of the website on resources to enhance the development of statistical literacy. Most of the entries on the webpages will be 3 to 5 sentence summaries of various publications, websites, etc. The emphasis will be on materials that can be obtained for free over the Internet or via other means. Materials that must be purchased at a cost will also be included, when appropriate. Complete ordering information, including direct Internet links, will be given for all entries. The website will be maintained at Winona State University by Carol Joyce Blumberg and Nicole Machacek (a third year undergraduate student in Communications Studies at Winona State). It is expected that the website will be ready for use around 1 February 2003. Once the website is available, announcements will be made in the ISI Newsletter and elsewhere.
The website will be organised as a series of webpages with each webpage having its own co-ordinators. The webpages (with co-ordinators listed in parentheses) will be:
Introductory page(s) with definitions of statistical literacy, some general resources on statistical literacy, and an explanation of what is and is not included on the website. (Carol Blumberg, USA, cblumberg@winona.edu);
Resources for elementary school teachers to use in their classrooms. (Judith Zawojewski, USA, judiz@iit.edu & Helen Chick, Australia, h.chick@unimelb.edu.au);
Resources for secondary school teachers to use in their classrooms. (Philip Boland, Ireland, philip.j.boland@ucd.ie);
Resources for elementary school teachers to use to improve their own knowledge of and teaching of statistics and probability (where statistics and probability are defined in their widest possible meanings)(Judith Zawojewski, USA, judiz@iit.edu & Helen Chick, Australia, h.chick@unimelb.edu.au);
Resources for secondary school teachers to use to improve their own knowledge of and teaching of statistics and probability (where statistics and probability are defined in their widest possible meanings) (Philip Boland, Ireland, philip.j.boland@ucd.ie);
Resources for those training teachers, both those who are preparing future teachers and those who are giving further education to those already teaching. (Mike Perry and Gary Kader, USA, perrylm@appstate.edu & gdk@math.appstate.edu);
Resources for those doing official statistics to improve the correctness, usefulness and readability of their work. One part of this webpage will be a listing of training programmes and centres that offer basic statistics courses focussed towards official statistics for those not already trained in statistics. (Reija Helenius, Finland, reija.helenius@stat.fi);
Resources for journalists and other members of the mass media to use that will help them understand and report statistics and statistical ideas correctly and in an understandable manner. (John Harraway, New Zealand, jharraway@maths.otago.ac.nz);
Resources for other adults who want to learn basic statistics on their own.
Resources for those who are working with adults to improve their statistical literacy skills.
Resources for planning and conducting a children’s census or similar activity. (Neville Davies, UK, neville.davies@ntu.ac.uk);
A list of projects or other efforts in statistical literacy sponsored by the national statistics offices, national statistical societies, or similar groups. This list will be sorted by country. (Carol Blumberg, cblumberg@winona.edu);
A list of funding organisations that will accept grant applications from individuals or organisations that want to begin or to expand statistical literacy efforts in their countries or regions. (Carol Blumberg, cblumberg@winona.edu);
A collection of data sets that can be used when doing teaching or training in statistical literacy and links to collections of data sets that already exist. (Brant Deppa and Christopher Malone, USA, bdeppa@winona.edu & cmalone@winona.edu).
Co-ordinators are still needed for the webpages on resources for adult statistical literacy. Also, several of the coordinators listed here would like to have co-coordinators. If you are interested in being a co-ordinator or co co-ordinator, please contact Carol Blumberg (see below for contact information).
If you have an item that you feel is appropriate for inclusion on the website, please send it to the appropriate listed co-ordinator or contact:
Carol Joyce Blumberg at
cblumberg@winona.edu;
Department of Mathematics & Statistics,
Winona State University,
Winona MN 55987-5838 USA.
Tel: ++1-507-457-5589;
Fax ++1-507-457-5376.
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