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What Is Happening at the School Level and Why It Is Important to Statistical Practice (303548)

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Keywords: School level statistics, educational research, NCTM, GAISE

Just as approaches to statistical practice have changed over the past 30 years, so have the approaches to statistical education at the school level. This paper reviews the contributions made from three perspectives that are helping to build the foundations during the school years for a generation of young people to continue to study and practice statistics after school. The three perspectives are those of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the American Statistical Association (ASA), and that of academics researching at the school level. The perspectives interact and contribute to the curriculum that students experience as they progress through school. This paper traces the history of change, focusses on current initiatives, and gives examples of research based on statistical practice suitable for school students. The combination of the efforts of the NCTM, the ASA, and many researchers around the world, is providing a foundation for building enthusiasm for and understanding of the practice of statistics before students leave high school. The goal is that many will go on with the practice in higher education and the workplace.