Open AccessSTATISTICAL LITERACY FOR ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP: A CALL FOR DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION
Author(s) -
Joachim Engel
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
statistics education research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 14
ISSN - 1570-1824
DOI - 10.52041/serj.v16i1.213
Subject(s) - statistics education , mathematics education , literacy , citizenship , sociology , political science , social science , public relations , psychology , pedagogy , law , politics
Data are abundant, quantitative information about the state of society and the wider world is around us more than ever. Paradoxically, recent trends in the public discourse point towards a post-factual world that seems content to ignore or misrepresent empirical evidence. As statistics educators we are challenged to promote understanding of statistics about society. In order to re-root public debate to be based on facts instead of emotions and to promote evidence-based policy decisions, statistics education needs to embrace two areas widely neglected in secondary and tertiary education: understanding of multivariate phenomena and the thinking with and learning from complex data.
First published May 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives