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Data is everywhere and for everyone, but are we equipping our young people with the skills they need to extract meaning from vast datasets? Whilst data drives everything from the world’s economy, climate modelling, transport planning, predicting disease outbreaks through to individuals using fitness apps, watching recommendations from streaming services and GPS navigation, we still live in a society where there is poor statistical understanding amongst the public. Perhaps more concerning is the anxiety that many people exhibit when encountering statistics. Is our current school curriculum providing students with the correct skills to turn this around?
In this talk we will explore some aspects of statistical anxiety and how we can combat this in our teaching, statistical communication and outreach. Professor Hilliam will highlight how statistics is used daily and in many school subjects without students realising and will consider our role in shaping a future curriculum and what this could look like.
Rachel Hilliam is Professor of Statistics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics, where she is currently Head of School, having worked in a number of universities and as a medical statistician in the NHS before joining The Open University in 2011. In 2019 as Director of Teaching for Mathematics and Statistics at the OU, she introduced a new degree in Data Science which had over 400 students across the UK in its first year.
She is an expert in teaching statistics at higher education level to adult students who do not necessarily have standard university entrance qualifications. Her learning and teaching interests include supporting students who are studying statistics as part of a non-mathematical qualification and exploring the different types of statistical anxieties which such students can exhibit.
海角黑料Jubilee CampusWollaton Road Nottingham, NG8 1BB
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