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Department Seminar Speaker — Dr. Elizabeth Johnson — “Why Is Statistical Literacy So Important? “

The Department of Mathematics & Statistics would like to welcome:
Dr. Elizabeth Johnson on Wednesday, February 25 at 11:00am in SCP 229.

Title: Why Is Statistical Literacy So Important?

Abstract: While there are many definitions of statistical literacy, there is no disagreement about its importance for an educated society. Past and current presidents of the American Statistical Association (ASA) have played an important role in promoting both statistics education and statistical literacy. In 1950, Samuel Wilks stated that “Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write!” In the 1990’s Richard Scheaffer helped to create the Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics program and in-coming ASA president Jessica Utts will be the 2015 Chief Reader of the AP Statistics exam. In this presentation I will review the history of the AP Statistics program, the creation of the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) report and the Statistics and Probability concepts covered by the K-12 Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. I will discuss the impact these programs will have on undergraduate statistics curricula, teacher certification programs and future statisticians.

Elizabeth Johnson, PhD is an Assistant Professor at George Mason University. She received her doctorate in education research from the University of South Carolina. She also has a MS in Statistics and an MAT in Mathematics. Dr. Johnson was a high school mathematics teacher for several years before entering higher education and was a Visiting Assistant Professor at The College of New Jersey.

Afterwards, we will be taking the speaker out to lunch. If you are interested in coming to lunch, please email Prof. Lee at leec@tcnj.edu.

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