Michelle Everson

The Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) College Report, originally endorsed by the ASA in 2005, has had a profound effect on the teaching of statistics. But given that the nature of what we teach and how we teach has evolved over the past decade, a committee assembled through the Section on Statistical Education has taken on revising and updating the GAISE College Report.

The updated report focuses on the changing landscape in statistics education. In particular, the past 10 years have seen growth in the number of students who are studying statistics, changes in the way data are collected and used, the emergence of data science as a discipline, new and better options for technology, different environments for learning and teaching statistics, and changes in the statistics curriculum in grades 6–12.

The committee endorses the six core GAISE College Report recommendations found in the 2005 report, but these recommendations have been reordered so the first two address what to teach and the next four focus on how to teach. The committee also rephrased some of the recommendations to strive for simplicity and clarity and extended the first recommendation with the two bullet points listed below. The revised recommendations state that introductory statistics courses should do the following:

• Teach statistical thinking
• Teach statistics as an investigative process of problem-solving and decision-making
• Provide students experience with multivariable thinking
• Focus on conceptual understanding
• Integrate real data with a context and purpose
• Foster active learning
• Use technology to explore concepts and analyze data
• Use assessments to improve and evaluate student learning

The revised GAISE College Report includes learning goals that follow from the recommendations. New emphasis has been given to the goals of helping students become intelligent readers of statistically based results, encouraging students to participate in discussions about ethics relevant to statistics, and providing students with opportunities to gain an appreciation of—and some experience with—the use of computers in statistics. The report focuses on overarching goals in a first course. Discussion of each goal illustrates important topics for students to study without prescribing a list of specific learning objectives. Further, thoughts are shared on possible topics that could be de-emphasized or reviewed quickly (if at all) in a first course.

In addition to describing each of the six core recommendations in more detail, the updated report includes appendixes that provide examples of activities, projects, different types of data sets, and assessment items, as well as examples related to using technology. All these appendixes were included in the original GAISE College Report, but they have been expanded and updated. New appendixes also have been added that focus on the evolution of the introductory course, multivariable thinking, and ways to apply the GAISE recommendations in different types of learning environments (e.g., large vs. small courses, face-to-face vs. online courses, courses with limited access to technology, etc.).

The committee of volunteers was formed after the Joint Statistical Meetings in 2012 and has been researching current practices, seeking broad-based input, presenting progress reports in webinars and conference presentations, and posting surveys to maximize contact with the statistics education community. The current draft represents the fruits of these efforts.

The committee also plan to offer two webinars during March to share details about the draft report and elicit feedback from the community. The first webinar will take place March 8 from 3–4 p.m. Eastern time. The second webinar will take place March 14 from 5–6 p.m. Eastern time. Those who would like to attend either webinar should send an RSVP to ASA Director of Education Rebecca Nichols at rebecca@amstat.org.