Recent Invited Presentations
Watson, J.M. (2007). The development of statistical understanding at the
elementary school level. In J. Novotna & H. Moraova (Eds.), Approaches to
teaching mathematics at the elementary level (Proceedings of the International
Symposium elementary Mathematics Teaching, Prague, August 19-24, 2007, pp.
33-45). Prague: Charles University, Faculty of Education. (I) [ISBN
978-80-7290-307-8] [Invited plenary at international conference.]
The massive increase in information and data available in the 21st century is
putting increasing pressure on school curricula around the world to prepare
students to meet the demands of using the information and data for the good of
society. Finding the place in an already crowded curriculum for the
technological and statistical literacy skills is not easy. The needs are present
across the curriculum but thus far statistical thinking has usually been placed
within the mathematics curriculum under such headings as “data and chance” or
“data handling.” Various suggestions have been made concerning what content
should be introduced at different year levels. This paper does not make specific
suggestions for students at different years of school or ages because of
differences across countries but presents a developmental picture of statistical
understanding from early childhood across the elementary into the middle school
years. Knowing where a child currently is in the developmental sequences can
indicate what activities can assist movement to higher levels of understanding.
It is hoped that greater appreciation of the potential for developing
statistical understanding will influence curriculum developers to find a place,
integrated across the traditional disciplines, to build the foundations required
for critical statistical literacy in the adult world.
Watson, J.M. (2005). Is statistical literacy relevant for middle school
students? Vinculum, 42(1), 3-10. [Invited Keynote at the annual conference of
the Mathematical Association of Victoria, December, 2004]
In answering the question in the title with a resounding “Yes,” this paper
considers examples of the development of middle school students’ understanding
related to statistical literacy. The development spans six levels of increasing
engagement with context, increasing flexibility of numeracy skills, increasing
appreciation of variation, and increasing ability to describe terminology. The
examples provided can be used as assessment items or as the basis of classroom
learning activities.
Watson, J.M. (2004). Tasmanian research in chance and data. In J. Li and J.M.
Wisenbaker (Chairs), Research and development in the teaching and learning of
statistics. Topic Study Group 11 at the International Congress on Mathematical
Education, Copenhagen, Denmark. Available at: www.icme-10.dk/
Over the past decade since the introduction of A National Statement on
Mathematics for Australian Schools, research in Tasmania has focused on the
development of students’ understanding of the chance and data part of the
curriculum. Branching off from this have been projects considering higher order
statistical thinking while students work in collaborative groups, profiles of
teachers’ relationships to the curriculum, the influence of cognitive conflict
on student understanding, and the impact of instruction specifically aimed at
students’ understanding of variation in relation to chance and data. A summary
of some of the outcomes of this research will be presented, as well as potential
directions for future research.
Watson, J.M. (in press). Assessment in statistics education: Obstacle or
opportunity? Proceedings of the International Congress on Mathematical
Education, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2004. [Invited Lecture at international
congress.]
Assessment is one of those words that conjures up different meanings and
feelings for different people. In choosing between using the words “assessment”
and “measurement” in the title, assessment was chosen because, despite the
anxiety it may create for some, it seems to encompass a broader range of ideas.
Measurement seems to imply turning “something” into numbers and that is not
always appropriate. Intuitively measurement is usually considered as a subset of
assessment and the aim of this paper is to view the subject from the widest
angle possible. The perspective of the paper is not that of a specialist
educational measurement or assessment person. Most people in education, however,
are forced, or even choose, to be in situations where they have to carry out
assessments. This paper hence aims to present some of the variety that can exist
in the field of assessment in statistics education. After briefly considering
some of the potential obstacles of assessment, some of the wonderful
opportunities that present themselves are explored.
Watson, J.M. (2002). Doing research in statistics education: More than just
data. In B. Phillips (Ed.), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on
Teaching Statistics: Developing a statistically literate society, Cape Town,
South Africa. Voorburg, The Netherlands: International Statistical Institute.
[Text of invited keynote at international conference.]
Reprinted in B. Phillips (Ed.), ICOTS6 Papers for School Teachers (pp. 13-20).
Voorburg, The Netherlands: International Statistical Institute.
As teachers of statistics we know the fundamental components of statistical
enquiry, be it classical or exploratory. When we turn the focus on ourselves as
statistics educators, we run the risk of forgetting some of the fundamental
principles of good research - principles that are broader than carrying out
statistical significance tests. In this talk I want to present some examples of
research in statistics education to illustrate the stages and outcomes that
contribute to results that have a scholarly impact on the statistics education
community. As a single teacher with a good idea on how to teach "confidence
intervals," I do not expect anyone to pay much attention to me. If I can,
however, place my ideas in the context of others' ideas or research on teaching
confidence intervals; conduct a study - maybe a case study or a controlled
experimental design - that is valid for considering the issue I want to promote
in teaching about confidence intervals; and have my results refereed by peers in
the field; then I can expect people to pay attention to me.
Faculty of Education
University of Tasmania
Private Bag 66 Hobart Tasmania Australia 7001
Phone: 61-3-6226-2570; Fax: 61-3-6226-2569
Jane.Watson@utas.edu.au