Creating Data Scientists

What skills, knowledge, habits of mind, and dispositions do students need to handle the complex data structures that students routinely encounter via the internet and in their research (or future research)? When should they be introduced to/ explore/ develop expertise in these skills? How should these concepts, habits and skills be taught? What fundamental statistical concepts are required to interpret and analyze such data? What fundamental statistical concepts should students know to guide their handling of these complex data structures?

The Role of Technology in Statistics Education in Developing Countries

As statistics becomes more computer-centric (and less mathematics-centric), what particular challenges face developing countries? How can curricula and pedagogy be designed to address or overcome these challenges? Do emerging technologies (i.e. smart phones, one-laptop-per-child) offer solutions or create even greater gaps? In the face of limited resources, what technologies can be used to enhance the teaching of statistics at the different levels of the educational system? What institutional and teacher support systems may be needed / provided for more practical and effective use of technology in statistics classrooms?

Students’ Access to Data

How can complex data structures be brought into the classroom? How does the accessibility of such data (for example, streaming data, longitudinal data, relational databases) affect the curriculum? What technological tools have been/ should be developed to increase this accessibility? What technical and other skills do students at different ages need to access these data? To what extent does being statistically literate now require knowledge of the many large, publicly available data bases, and some understanding of how to access and query them?

Teaching and Learning with Large Data Sets

What can students learn from Large Data Sets that they cannot learn from traditional data? How can technological tools, curricula, or pedagogical approaches support this learning? What logistical, technical or conceptual problems must instructors overcome to make these data accessible to students? What new statistical concepts arise as students explore data with large n and/or large p ?

The Development, Implementation, and Assessment of Classroom Technology

How can technology be used to improve statistics education? What tools are needed to prepare students for making statistical inference? How can technology help students focus on central concepts? What is the future of the textbook, given the slow and gradual shift towards on-line assessment, applets, and e-books?