A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

Mathematics and statistics
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1 activity and small group work;
2 testing and feedback on misconceptions;
3 comparing reality with predictions;
4 computer simulations;
5 software that allows interaction.
When the mathematical foundations of statistics are being studied, it is often necessary
to go into the sometimes deep theoretical foundations of the subject. Students who
have a strong mathematical background will be able to cope with this. However,
many experienced teachers of statistics have come to the conclusion that these five points
work best with a data-driven approach to the subject. Many would claim that this is
the only method that is likely to work on a large scale with non-specialist students of
the subject. Even so, some scholars advocate that, at the same time as teaching data
handling, probability concepts must be taught as well, and as early as possible. See,
for example, Lindley (2001), who argues convincingly that even at school level,
probability concepts should be taught. Others maintain that probability is such a difficult
and sophisticated topic to teach properly that its treatment should be left until
students have reached a more mature appreciation of the subject (see e.g. Moore and
McCabe, 1998). There appear to be little experimental data to support either claim
at present.
Innovative use of real data
As well as a discipline in its own right, statistics is an essential science in many other
subjects. Consequently, at some stage data will need to be collected for and on behalf of
each of those disciplines. This could comprise primary and/or secondary data. When
surveyed, the statistics community of teachers in higher education institutions expressed
a need for exemplar data-based material for routine use both by themselves and by their
students. They looked for realistic scenarios, useful to both the teacher for good practice
teaching material and students for effective learning material. The Web-based random
data selector, described in Davies (2002), provides a useful tool to create just such a rich
learning and teaching material. The CensusAtSchool project is delivered from: http://
censusatschool.ntu.ac.uk.
A Web facility permits the selection of a random sample of the raw data collected for
CensusAtSchool. These data are for use in the classroom or in pupils’ projects. Users may
choose from databases consisting of responses from specific countries, including the UK,
Queensland in Australia, South Africa, or a combined database of directly comparable
responses. This may be a selection from all data of geographical regions of the chosen
country. Selections may be restricted to responses from a particular age or gender. Sample
sizes allowed are up to 200 per country and 500 from the combined database. A full range
of graphical and spreadsheet accessories may be brought to bear upon the data.