More than 450 statistics educators gathered at Penn State May 28–30 for the largest U.S. Conference on Teaching Statistics. Statistics teachers and educator researchers from universities, colleges, two-year institutions, and high schools gathered to “make connections” (the conference theme) and exchange ideas about teaching statistics in this important time for our discipline.
Workshop participants heard four plenary presentations. Jim Stigler of the University of California at Los Angeles spoke about what it takes to teach for understanding, and Roger Peng of The Johns Hopkins University discussed lessons learned while developing an online program in data science. Shonda Kuiper of Grinnell argued for making statistics relevant in a data-rich society, and Michael Posner of Villanova provided advice for conducting effective research in statistics education.
The conference also featured 24 breakout sessions, during which participants engaged in activities to investigate such issues as developing data science curricula, teaching simulation-based inference, preparing future teachers, incorporating video clips into courses, and injecting fun into statistics. More than 40 participants also presented posters about creative ideas for teaching and learning statistics.
The conference opened with the session titled “What’s Wrong with Stat 101?” Dick De Veaux and George Cobb challenged participants to rethink conventional introductory courses. Responses were provided by Amy Wagaman, Jeff Witmer, Jessica Uttts, Milo Schield, Nathan Tintle, and Webster West.
The conference concluded with the session titled “What’s Right with Undergraduate Statistics,” during which Amy Froelich, Ann Cannon, Chris Malone, Ginger Holmes Rowell, John Gabrosek, and John Holcomb spoke.
Another highlight of the conference was the banquet dinner at which Ann Watkins and Bob Johnson provided remarks about how they have facilitated the making of connections among statistics educators throughout their careers. Also, Ann and Mike Shaughnessy were announced as the recipients of the USCOTS Lifetime Achievement Award by Dennis Pearl, director of the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education.
More information about USCOTS, including presenter files, can be found at the USCOTS website. And mark your calendars now for May 18–20, 2017, when this conference will return to Happy Valley.
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