Some subscribers to the Phys-L may be interested in a recent post
"Re: Required Statistical Literacy Course for All Students?" [Hake
(2010)]. The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: Jonathan Groves, in a MathEDCC post "Required Statistical
Literacy Course for All Students?" wrote: ". . . . a required
statistical literacy course of some sort for all college students
(and probably for high school students as well) is a great idea. . .
. . The lack of such a universal requirement keeps the public at
large in the dark when statistics is purposefully abused to suit
certain people's purposes rather than used to arrive at the truth."
The statistical illiteracy of the general population was also pointed
out in: (a) "Statistical Illiteracy" [Hake (2008a)],
(b) "Statistical Illiteracy - ERRATUM & ADDENDA" [Hake (2008b)], and
(c) "Chances Are? [Strogatz (2010)]; all of whom point to the work of
Gerd Gigerenzer - see e.g., Gigerenzer (2003) & Gigerenzer et al.
(2008).
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"Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient
citizenship as the ability to read and write."
H.G. Wells (1866-1946)
REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php.]
Gigerenzer, G. 2003. "Calculated risks: How to know when numbers
deceive you." Simon & Schuster, publisher's information at
<http://tinyurl.com/2u2bp7j>. Barnes & Nobel information including a
sample chapter and the Table of Contents is at
<http://tinyurl.com/26k34q3>. Amazon.com information for the 1986
edition at <http://tinyurl.com/2d4pq8z>. Note the searchable "Look
Inside" feature.
Gigerenzer, G., W. Gaissmaier, E. Kurz-Milcke, L.M. Schwartz, & S.
2008. "Helping Doctors and Patients Make Sense of Health Statistics,"
Psychological Science In The Public Interest 8(2): 53-96; online at
<http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/pspi_8_2_article.pdf>
(1.8 MB).
Groves, J. 2010. " Required Statistical Literacy Course for All
Students?" Math-Teach post of 14 April 2010 12:06 pm; online at
<http://tinyurl.com/38qbtqp>.
Hake, R.R. 2008a. "Statistical Illiteracy," online on the OPEN!
AERA-L archives at <http://tinyurl.com/2wa93fp>. Post of 22 Nov 2008
to AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-I, AERA-J, AERA-K, AERA-L, AP-Physics,
ASSESS, Biolab (rejected), Biopi-L, Chemed-L, DrEd, EdResMeth, EdStat
(rejected), EvalTalk, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, Physhare, PhysSoc, POD,
PsychTeacher (rejected), STLHE-L, TeachingEdPsych, TIPS, & WBTOLL-L.
Hake, R.R. 2008b. "Statistical Illiteracy - ERRATUM & ADDENDA,"
online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://tinyurl.com/2b2tcau>.
Post of 25 Nov 2008 17:05:45 -0800 to AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-I, AERA-J,
AERA-K, AERA-L, AP-Physics, ASSESS, Biolab (rejected), Biopi-L,
Chemed-L, DrEd, EdResMeth, EdStat (rejected), EvalTalk, Phys-L,
PhysLrnR, Physhare, PhysSoc, POD, PsychTeacher (rejected), STLHE-L,
TeachingEdPsych, TIPS, & WBTOLL-L.
Hake, R.R. 2010. Re: Required Statistical Literacy Course for All Students?
online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://tinyurl.com/2af6sw3>.
Post of 2 May 2010 14:46:37-0700 to AERA-L, MathEDCC, Math-Learn,
Math-Teach, & NetGold. The abstract and the link to the complete post
are being transmitted to various discussion lists and are also online
at
<http://hakesedstuff.blogspot.com/2010/05/re-required-statistical-literacy-course.html>
with a provision for comments.