Every day, students collect, organize, and analyze data to make decisions. In this data-driven world, people need to assess how much trust they can place in summary statistics. The results of every survey and the safety of every drug that undergoes a clinical trial depend on the correct application of appropriate statistics. Recognizing the…

In this paper, I highlight the inadequacies of contemporary theoretical and philosophical orthodoxies to fully address pedagogic change. The required change is in mathematics education, and it has to do with enabling preservice teachers, upon graduation, to rework extant power relations in implementing new interactional patterns that centre the…

Numeracy is as essential to becoming an active and thoughtful citizen as literacy. Although the concept of numeracy is complex and robust, there are four areas in which teachers can fairly easily begin to incorporate it into social studies curriculum and instruction. The areas include the students' ability to understand raw numeric data in…

Classroom communication has been recognized as a process in which ideas become objects of reflection, discussion, and amendments affording the construction of private mathematical meanings that in the process become public and exposed to justification and validation. This paper describes an explanatory model named "interpreting games", based on…

Discusses the use or misuse of statistics or probability in society. Presented are examples from opinion polling, sports, the 1970 draft lottery, and the law. Lists 18 references. (YP)

Demonstrates a statistically valid method allowing students to explore randomization. Described are two examples: counting techniques for a small set of data and simulation for a large sample. (YP)