Editor’s Note: Fall 2021
We hope you enjoy this special issue of Statistics Teacher, which includes an article and lesson plans written by authors of the recently published Pre-K–12 Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education II (GAISE II): A Framework for Statistics and Data Science Education. GAISE II is available for free download or purchase via Amazon for $15. We are also delighted to announce a new book, Statistics and Data Science for Teachers.
Jessica Cohen, article editor of Statistics Teacher, shares the main article, “Thinking Like a Data Scientist: A Cross-Disciplinary Investigation on Climate Change,” by Anna Gralnik (5th grade teacher, Aurelia Pennekamp Elementary School) and Anna Bargagliotti (GAISE II co-chair, Loyola Marymount University). The investigation is aligned with the GAISE II Pre-K–12 Report and provides students an opportunity to learn about climate change issues and investigate how their communities are contributing to and being affected by climate change.
Catherine Case, editor of STEW, shares lesson plans by three GAISE II authors: Pip Arnold (Karekare Education New Zealand); Sheri Johnson (The Mount Vernon School); and Leticia Perez (University of California at Los Angeles). Each new plan is aligned with GAISE II recommendations and focuses on using photographs as data to tell stories about outdoor spaces. Each lesson is also targeted to grades 6–9, though concepts can be adapted to other grades and the concepts within each lesson can be mixed and adapted.
The lesson “Using Technology to Create Data Elements” by Leticia Perez investigates how photographs can be analyzed to provide insight and data about a favorite outdoor space. Students investigate methods to collect additional data from photographs submitted by their classmates following a student survey about their favorite outdoor space.
The lesson “Using CODAP to Tell Different Stories” by Sheri Johnson engages students in investigating their favorite outdoor spaces using the statistical problem-solving process. Students first develop a statistical investigative question, and then create and administer a survey to collect data, work in small groups to analyze the results using CODAP (common online analysis platform), and interpret the results.
The lesson “Questioning Throughout the Statistical Problem-Solving Process” by Pip Arnold tells a story about students’ favorite outdoor spaces using photographs as data. Students pose statistical investigative questions, collect data from the class, analyze the data, and share a story to interpret the results about the class’s favorite outdoor spaces.
We also share the new book Statistics and Data Science for Teachers, written by GAISE II lead authors Anna Bargagliotti and me. It supports GAISE II recommendations by presenting statistical ideas through investigations and engaging in the statistical problem-solving process of formulating statistical investigative questions, collecting/considering data, analyzing data, and interpreting results. It is available for free download. Printed copies will soon be available to purchase via Amazon.
We sincerely hope this book will help teachers enhance their teaching of statistics and be used by teacher educators to prepare future K–12 teachers to teach statistics in schools. A goal is to provide teacher educators with a resource to guide entire courses and professional development, or portions of courses and professional development, when preparing teachers of all grade levels to teach the foundations of statistics and data science in their classrooms.
Please also check out the list of announcements regarding upcoming opportunities, competitions, publications, conferences, and other resources.
We encourage you to submit articles, lessons, or announcements for Statistics Teacher. Our editors are also happy to assist if you have an idea for an article or lesson. For more information, see the ST submission guidelines or contact the ST editors.
Thank you for reading and engaging with Statistics Teacher.
Regards,
Christine Franklin, ST Managing Editor
