Student handbook
Table of contents
Appendix C
Information for students
with concentrations in
statistical education in the master’s or doctoral quantitative
methods in education (QME) area, or for non-QME students attaining a Ph.D.
minor in educational psychology with an emphasis in statistical
education
Introduction
The number of courses in introductory and
intermediate statistics is steadily growing. At the college level, there
are now more sections of introductory statistics than sections of
calculus. At the high school level, there are over 40,000 students in
Advanced Placement statistics courses, and those numbers are steadily
rising. Despite the increase in statistics courses, there is currently
no formal preparation for the teaching of statistics. Traditionally
statistics teachers at the high school level have bachelors or master’s
degrees in mathematics or mathematics education, and may not have ever
taken an applied statistics course, worked with data, or used a
statistical software package. At the college level, most teachers of
statistics are mathematicians although some are statisticians. Neither
graduate discipline prepares their students to be teachers of
statistics.
Over the past two decades much attention has been paid to first
courses in statistical science. Calls for reform have made
recommendations about how the teaching of these courses should be
improved to increase student learning and attitudes towards statistics,
and to develop a statistically literate society. This reform movement
has greatly affected the teaching of the introductory statistics course,
updating the content, placing more of an emphasis on data analysis using
real data and simulation, including material on designing experiments,
sampling, and surveys as ways of collecting and producing data, and
incorporating the use of technology (both software and Web resources) as
an integral part of the course.
There is also a need to attract and prepare more people to the field
of statistics, which has led to a major initiative of the American
Statistical Association: The
Undergraduate Statistics Education Initiative. One focus of this
initiative is the first course in statistics, and one recommendation
from the working group on this topic is to develop programs to better
prepare teachers of statistics. Second, intermediate courses in
statistics are also beginning to attract more attention and National Science Foundation funding
is now going to the development of improved and innovative second
courses in statistics.
The master's and doctoral degree in educational psychology at
the University of Minnesota is the first in the U.S. to offer a
specialization in statistics education.
Goal of the master's and doctoral program emphasis in statistical
education. All students in the master's and doctoral programs are
expected to develop their knowledge of areas related to statistics
education as well as methodological competencies defined by the
curriculum of the programs. A teaching internship will allow students to
apply what they learn to the classroom setting and receive supervision
and feedback on their teaching. The research requirement for the
master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation will prepare the students to
conduct high quality educational research applied to the teaching and
learning of statistics, and to link the results of research to classroom
practice.
Examples of employment opportunities for students graduating with
an emphasis in statistical education. Students entering the master's
program in QME (emphasis in statistics education) at
the University of Minnesota will be prepared to teach introductory and
intermediate statistics courses in a high school or at a community or
professional college. (Please note that this is not a K-12 licensure
program.) Students entering the doctoral program will be
prepared to teach statistics at the college level and to conduct
research on the teaching and learning of statistics.
Plan of studies for students with a concentration in statistical
education. Master’s students must complete a minimum of 41 credits, including 19
credits in measurement, evaluation, and statistics, 3 credits in
learning and cognition, and 3 credits in social psychology or
personality. Students
must also take two courses in statistics education and at least 6
credits outside of the Department of Educational Psychology. These
courses may come from math education and/or statistics. Information
about required courses for master's and doctoral students with a concentration in
statistical education is available in Appendix
A and
Areas of
concentration.
Doctoral students emphasizing statistical education must also spend
one semester (3 credits) in an internship. The goal of the internship is
to apply knowledge of research on how students learn statistics and
awareness of current resources and recommendations for teaching first
and second courses in statistics. Students would experience supervised
teaching, at the high school or college level. The students
may arrange this for themselves or may request help in arranging a job
placement. One option is to teach one of the several undergraduate
statistics courses in the department. Each semester all students
involved in the teaching internship would meet together with a
supervising faculty member on a regular basis to discuss teaching
issues. The faculty member would also observe some classes and provide
feedback and suggestions regarding the students’ teaching.
Ph.D. minor educational psychology with an emphasis in in statistics education (12 credits). Designed for
Ph.D. students outside educational psychology and quantitative methods
in education who desire specialized
training in statistical education. Prerequisites are coursework in
statistics equivalent to EPSY 8261, EPSY 8262, EPSY 8263, and EPSY 8264. Students must take
EPSY 5271—Becoming a Teacher of
Statistics, and EPSY 8271—Statistics Education Research Seminar: Studies
in Teaching and Learning Statistics,
one course in learning and cognition, and spend a semester in a teaching
internship, EPSY 5272.
Table of contents
November 2004
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