Curated Websites on Statistical Literacy

The original coordinator for this page was Ken Shimabukuro, Nexo, Center for Statistics and Numeracy, Bolivia

The websites are listed on this page in alphabetical order and are not ranked.

Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics

Warning: You must register for free at The Advanced Placement (AP)➶ to see what we describe about this site here. The AP program is a system by which secondary school students take a university level course in their own schools. Near the end of the academic year they then take a test. Depending on the score they receive on the test, universities may then grant the students credit for the university level corresponding course. The main website for teachers for the Advanced Placement Program is called AP Central. As indicated above, it requires visitors to register, but there is no charge for registration. To access the AP Statistics Home Page, you need to register with AP first. Otherwise, you will get a “page not found message.” Once in, you need to click on “Courses” and select “Statistics.” That page contains course information, exam information, teaching resource materials, teachers’ resource reviews, feature articles, registration information for an electronic discussion group, and other valuable links. You may get a complete course description, all of the exam questions from 1998 through 2004, as well as scoring guidelines, commentary on student performance, scoring statistics, sample responses, and grade distributions.

Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics Listserver

The AP Listserver is an excellent resource for all teachers of introductory statistics. You may consult the complete archive➶ of the messages posted or you may join the ap-stat listserver➶.

Africa South of the Sahara: Statistics

This site➶ provides information on variety of database related some countries in Africa in both English and French languages. It may interest those who wish to research in the region or use statistics about Africa in their teaching.

Centre for Statistical Education of the Royal Statistical Society of the UK

The successor site to the Royal Statistical Society Centre for Statistical Education is now sponsored by Plymouth University as the International Centre for Statistical Education (ICSE)➶ It continues to "To promote the improvement of statistical education, training and understanding at all ages. Work to support this aim is carried out in four main areas: (i) school and further education; (ii) higher education for all courses in which statistics is taught; (iii) continuing professional development including all who use statistics as part of their professional life; (iv) society as a whole.” (Quoted directly from webpage). This website is very comprehensive.

The CHANCE Project

The new version of the Chance Project➶ “Chance News reviews current stories in the news that involve probability or statistical concepts. It is freely available under the GNU Free Documentation License. The latest version is always under construction, with the results consolidated into (approximately) monthly issues.”

CIRDIS

Italian site➶

English site➶

“CIRDIS is an Italian Interuniversity Research Centre for Statistical Education hosted by the Universities of Padova, Palermo, Perugia and “Roma la Sapienza”. The Centre has been constituted on 1991 with the general objective of promoting the development of research on statistical education in Italy. For this purpose the Centre: carries out research on statistical education at school and university, cooperates with the official institutions to the initiatives to favour teachers training in statistics and to the initiatives related at the definition of curricula and methodologies of instruction, favours the exchange of teaching materials and information on both national and international basis, organizes meetings, seminaries, conferences on statistical education topics, gives hospitality to teachers and researchers on statistical education that wish to come to the Centre for research purposes, and is a center of documentation of statistical teaching materials.” (Copied from CIRDIS homepage). Many of its activities (click on Activities on the top of its webpage) are concerned with statistical literacy.

DIG Stats

DIG Stats➶ is an interesting, basic, and introductory WWW resource for integrating statistics and data visualization into mathematics and science courses at the secondary level and beyond.. In particular, much of it is very accessible to secondary school teachers and students. There are three modules covering concepts from descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and graphical analysis (two dimensional graphical analysis and three dimensional data visualization). Each module has discussions on various topics (for example in inferential statistics the topics are: t-test, ANOVA, correlation, factorial, regression and chi-squared). Each module has a selection of interesting associated activities, most of which are based on data sets which are available in either Excel or TI-83 format. The activities are well motivated and illustrated nicely with relevant background material.

eCourse in Statistics

Finnish site➶

English site➶

The eCourse in Statistics’ main purpose is usage skills of statistics via Statistics Finland’s Internet site. It is offered free of charge and has a total of five study modules on different statistical topics via the Internet. The material is, however, much more general and useful to anyone using the Internet to look at statistics including secondary students studying Mathematics and the Social Sciences and adult learners. eCourse in Statistics contains versatile information on statistics; it makes the basic concepts of statistics familiar and explains the backgrounds of statistical research as well as how statistical data can be used. On eCourse in Statistics one can learn about the basics of statistical thinking and how to read and use statistics. Other subjects that can be studied include demographics, national accounts and indices. eCourse in Statistics also offers instructions and hints for searching for statistical information. The study materials require no prior statistical knowledge. The material intended for self-study includes exercises and examples of actual statistical data. For more information contact: Ms Reija Helenius at reija.helenius@stat.fi or at +358 9 1734 3677.

Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education

This website➶ covers all of mathematics and science education. It is not a statistical literacy site. But, it is listed here because of its wealth of material. Many of the resources listed on this ISLP webpage and on the other ISLP webpages are also listed there. Putting in the keyword “Statistics” gave over 300 links within the website.

Electronic Statistics Textbook

“This Electronic Statistics Textbook➶ offers training in the understanding and application of statistics. The material was developed at the StatSoft R&D department based on many years of teaching undergraduate and graduate statistics courses and covers a wide variety of applications, including laboratory research (biomedical, agricultural, etc.), business statistics and forecasting, social science statistics and survey research, data mining, engineering and quality control applications, and many others. The Electronic Textbook begins with an overview of the relevant elementary (pivotal) concepts and continues with a more in depth exploration of specific areas of statistics, organized by “modules,” accessible by buttons, representing classes of analytic techniques. A glossary of statistical terms and a list of references for further study are included.” (quoted from webpage)

Eurostat’s DIGICOM project

This link➶ includes a listing for a large number of statistical literacy products per country of development. A great resource for teachers or anyoneinterested in promoting statistical literacy. A number of the products have been co-financed by European Commission (Eurostat) grants within the framework of the DIGICOM project.

ExperimentsAtSchool

The RSS Centre for Statistical Education (see above for description) has a project called ExperimentsAtSchool➶ that is related to the CensusAtSchool project. (Information is available for CensusAtSchool➶.) Using the CensusAtSchool practice of collecting data from pupils, and disseminating them, using the Internet, the RSS Centre for Statistical Education collected data from science experiments done at school by students across the whole age range in primary and secondary schools. On the site you will find experiments that any school in the world can take part in.

Exit Polls From Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International

This website➶ gives many of the details of how exit polls are done.

Figure This! Resuelvelo !!!

Castellano site➶

English site➶

“Figure This!” is a joint project of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Widmeyer Communications, and the Learning First Alliance. Figure This! targets primarily parents and families, to help them *become more involved in their child’s education in and out of school, *motivate them to pay attention to their child’s level of mathematical comprehension, and *encourage them to push for an increased emphasis on high-quality math in their child’s educational lives... The centerpiece of Figure This! is a series of engaging and challenging mathematical challenges that has been featured in a variety of media, including radio, television, print, and the Internet. (Quoted from the “Fact Sheet” webpage of the website.)

Even though this website was created for families with children aged 10-14, the activities there are truly fantastic and applicable to learners of all ages.

Gallup Polls

The Gallup Organization➶ has a document that explains in easy language how polls are conducted. To access it, go to the FAQs and in the General Information section select “how polls are conducted.” It is also interesting, in the main web page Today’s Top Analyses articles, at the end of which the survey methods are explained in detail, allowing readers to understand the uncertainty involved in the figures given in the articles. The document explaining how polls are conducted together with one of these articles, makes an interesting tutorial on how scientific polls works. Watch the videos too, which contain lots of poll results in nice, colorful graphics.

Global Social Change Research Project-Presenting Data Graphically and Presenting Results

Presenting Data Graphically and Presenting Results➶ is a compendium of academic, government and private web sites that contain resources on the public presentation of statistical results and graphics, with an emphasis on good and bad statistical graphics. Many of the pages give advice on what constitutes a good statistical graph and a good presentation of statistical results. Some of the pages explain statistical concepts in lay terms to a wide audience. Since there are government agencies, non-statistics departments and other constituencies addressed in these links, the page could be useful to the media, government workers, students, teachers and many others. In particular, those interested in statistics graphics will enjoy this page. The Global Social Change Research Project is supported by the International Consortium for Academic Publications

Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education

GAISE➶ The original Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) project prepared recommendations for introductory statistics courses (college [post-secondary] level) and statistics education in PreK-12 years [primary and secondary levels] in 2005 and 2007. An draft update for 2016 for post-secondary level is now available for review..

International Association for Statistical Education

At the request of several people, below are links to the IASE webpages that help people explore the literature in statistics education.

• main IASE website➶
• list of publications➶ in statistics education: IASE publications (SERJ, IASE Review, etc), IASE and ISI conference proceedings, relevant ISI books, recent dissertations
• lists of useful links➶ of research, assessment, curriculum guidelines, bibliographies, discussion lists, specialist journals in Statistics Education and other journals and newsletters of interest; also links to datasets, Java applets, and software

InterMath

Statistics materials on InterMath➶ “InterMath is a professional development effort designed to support teachers in becoming better mathematics educators. It focuses on building teachers' mathematical content knowledge through mathematical investigations that are supported by technology. InterMath includes a workshop component and materials to support instructors.

Matematica 2003

This material➶ (in Italian) was developed by a group of mathematics educators, statistics educators, and teachers. The content is easy to follow and well written. The parts that discuss statistical literacy at the upper secondary level are under “Matematica 2003” and then scroll down to “Parte 2” and “Dati e previsioni”.

Mathematical Association of America Special Interest Group on Quantitative Literacy

SIGMAA QL➶ “SIGMAA QL is the Special Interest Group of the MAA which focuses on Quantitative Literacy (QL). SIGMAA QL aims to provide a structure within the mathematics community to identify the prerequisite mathematical skills for quantitative literacy (QL) and find innovative ways of developing and implementing QL curricula.” (Quoted from webpage). This page also contains lists of meetings and links to some resources. Although it is mostly general mathematics, there is enough statistics there to make it worthwhile.

Mathematics in the New Zealand Curriculum

This comprehensive document➶ is from New Zealand’s Ministry of Education and covers the entire Mathematics curriculum for New Zealand from Year 1 through Year 13.

The Middle Years Numeracy Research Project

The Middle Years Numeracy Research Project➶ (Stage 2) has been commissioned by the Victorian Department of Education, Employment and Training (DEET), the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) and the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV). Although this website deals with more than statistical literacy in contains many things relevant to statistical literacy.

Milo Schield's W. M. Keck Statistical Literacy Project at Augsburg College

The Statistical Literacy project➶ at Augsburg College was funded by the W. M. Keck Foundation “to develop statistical literacy as an interdisciplinary curriculum in the liberal arts.”

Minard's 1861 Map of Napoleon's Army's Russian Campaign

Black and white map➶ Colour map➶ Charles Minard’s graph of Napoleon’s Russian Campaign of 1812 is an example of an excellent graphic and is considered by many to be the best ever! Some of the reasons given are: 1) It tells a compelling story just by looking at it and 2).The space is filled with information (ratio of ink to paper is high). The first site yields a black and white version of the map with some explanation. The second site shows the map in original color with an opportunity to purchase it. This makes an interesting introduction for a study on making meaningful representations data. It is also a nice interface with history.

NCTM (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Illuminations

The NCTM Illuminations➶ (huge) website is designed to illuminate a new vision for school mathematics as presented in NCTM’s Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (2000). Each grade band (preK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, and across the grades) contains five sections: I-Math Investigations of ready-to-use interactive multimedia lessons; selected web resources of the best carefully reviewed Internet math resources found by their panel; Internet-Based lesson plans of classroom-ready lessons developed by expert teachers; Interactive Mathlets of java applets that can be used to explore mathematics and to create interactive lessons; and, Inquiry on Practice of video vignettes, research reports, and article for teachers to encourage thinking and discussion on teaching and learning. The site is devoted to all of mathematics, so there is some searching to be done to find items specifically dedicated to statistics. It is well worth the search.

National Educational Services Unit

Within the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) there is a special unit called the National Educational Services Unit (NESU) with key responsibility for serving and supporting the schools sector. Its primary role is to increase knowledge, provide greater understanding and access to statistics for teachers, librarians, and students in Australia. The NESU, in conjunction with school teachers, has developed a variety of curriculum materials and done a variety of other projects, including a STATPAK Online, TRIP (Teacher Release to Industry Program), Education News, and Census for Schools CD-ROM, Census Profile Activities and Bivariate Datasets, which contain Census data and related activities. These materials are available here➶ by clicking on the “Education” button on the left, and then clicking on the four links under the “School Teachers” heading. Almost all can be downloaded for free.

National Numeracy Network (of the USA)

This organization➶ “offers its members a network of individuals, institutions and corporations united by the common goal of quantitative literacy for all citizens. Through newsletters, national meetings, faculty workshops and research initiatives, the National Numeracy Network aims to strengthen the capacity of our country in the areas of business, industry, education and research across all disciplinary boundaries.” (Quoted from webpage). It is more than statistical literacy. But, there is enough there to make it worth looking at.

The National Numeracy Strategy (of the UK)

The National Numeracy Strategy➶ is a project of the UK Department for Education and Skills. It is very comprehensive and contains many things relevant to statistical literacy.

NUMB3RS: We all Use Math Everyday

Charlie is a mathematician who has a brother working as a detective. Charlie helps his brother solves many criminal cases using data, statistics and probabilistic reasoning. The show NUMB3RS features in CBS once a week. Inspired by the television show, We All Use Math Everyday➶ is an initiative of CBS, Texas Instruments and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The program is a unique outreach program that uses the math, statistics and probability featured in the TV series to engage and interest more students in math and help them see how it impacts their world. The program includes classroom activities for teachers and students that correspond with the weekly episode. There are many activities on data analysis and probability that can be used by students and adults as well and for teacher training. The TV shows can be obtained separately.

Papers from the IASE Satellite Conference on Statistical Literacy

The IASE Satellite Conference on Statistical Literacy was held on 21-22 August 2001 in Seoul, South Korea prior to the 54th Biennial Session of the ISI. There was no formal publication of the papers presented at this conference. However, most of the papers are located here➶.

PBS TeacherSource

This general website➶ has many resources for all areas of mathematics and statistics. Once you are on the main page, choose an age level and then choose a topic. The statistical literacy activities are found under both “Data Analysis” and under “Statistics & Probability.”

Pénombre

Pénombre➶ (French) “aims at promoting discussion between experts in data production and a variety of ‘consumers’: administrative and political decision-makers, journalists, teachers, and concerned citizens.” (Quoted from a brochure in English given out at ISI Biennial Session in 2001)

Quantitative Literacy (QL) Series and other Materials for K-12 Statistics Education of the American Statistical Association.

The ASA➶ has resources, including many free downloads, that help elementary and secondary school teachers make statistics more accessible to students. Although most of these materials were designed for primary and secondary levels, they can be used effectively at the post-secondary and adult learner levels as well.

Schools' Corner

This website➶ was developed by Statistics New Zealand. Schools´ Corner covered a wide range of learning programs. There are separate pages for primary and secondary level. The pages have parts for student use and part of teacher use. In February 2016 materials were relocated to two other websites -CensusAtSchool, supported by Statistics NZ and the Ministry of Education, which contains a variety of teaching resources for New Zealand teachers of statistics, and nzmaths, supported by the Ministry of Education, which provides high quality, up-to-date resources for teachers of all levels of mathematics in New Zealand schools.

Statistics Canada websites of Learning Resources

English site➶

French site➶ These websites support education in Canada by developing and offering specifically designed statistical products and services and a wide range of learning resources.

StatLit: The study of statistics used as evidence in arguments

Statlit➶ is an interesting site with lots of information dealing with Statistical Literacy in general - including books, links, stories, teaching, events and items in the news about Statistical Literacy. Accessible to almost everyone, the focus is on causality - not just on the numbers in statistics. Emphasis is on data and arguments about causality based on observational studies in business, economics, sociology, epidemiology and history. The site addresses how much support statistics may give a possible causal argument as opposed to suggesting just association.

Statistics: Power from Data! (or les Statistiques: le pouvoir des données!)

English site➶ French site➶ This free electronic resource, in modular format, is designed to help teachers and secondary students better understand statistics and to enhance their skills in using them. The 13 chapters contain examples, case studies and exercises to help readers apply what they learn to everyday situation.

The Statistical Science Web

This website➶ is maintained by Gordon Smyth. It is much more than statistical literacy and statistics education. The portions of this website useful in statistics education can be easily accessed from its homepage.

STATS – Statistical Assessment Service

STATS➶ is a multi-purpose website devoted almost exclusively to statistical literacy. It was designed as a resource for journalists, but is useful to anyone interested in statistical literacy. It provides timely and well researched analyses of current statistical and scientific disputes – largely American oriented. It works towards achieving a better understanding of scientific and social research – with considerable attention being paid to spurious statistical claims. Most of the material covered falls into the general areas of crime, environment, food, health/medicine, socials issues, technology, business and miscellaneous science. VitalSTATS is a monthly newsletter, and Newsclips contains opinion articles.

Stats and Stories

In the Fall of 2012, the United States election predictions from statistical and mathematical models were celebrated and in 2017, the predictions were not. We see professional sports management reflecting a money-balled analysis that is hoped will generate better informed decisions about personnel. We go to the grocery with rewards cards that are linked to coupons that are tuned to our particular historic purchasing patterns. Is it possible to understand what is going on behind the scenes in these stories? Does it matter how studies are conducted? What numbers can we trust?

In recognition that there are statistics behind the stories we hear and a story behind the statistics, a program called Stats+Stories➶ was developed. Started initially by moderator Bob Long, an experienced radio broadcaster, Richard Campbell, director of the Journalism program, and John Bailer, chair of the department of statistics at Miami University began scheming to make this a reality. In this program, quantitative ideas encountered in our daily lives and journalism are explored. Each program will feature a guest who will share a story with a strong statistical flavor.

The first program was released in May 2013, and in January 2017, the American Statistical Association (ASA) became a partner with Miami University. Starting in 2018, Stats+Stories started working with Significance magazine to feature conversations with authors of stories from each new issue as one of the Stats+Stories episodes. The current on-air podcast team includes moderator Rosemary Pennington, journalist Richard Campbell and statistician John Bailer. A new episode is released every two weeks on Thursday at 9 am Eastern US time zone.

Stats4Schools

Stats4schools➶ is about helping teachers and pupils to get more from statistics. For pupils, it has datasets that can be download and included in projects, free of charge. For teachers, it has lesson plans and worksheets, which can be downloaded and used in class. stats4schools is managed by the independent Office for National Statistics, and includes data from across government (paraphrased from website).

Survey Research Methods Section of the American Statistical Association Brochures About Survey Research

This series of 10 brochures➶ discusses the basics of survey research. Each brochure can be accessed separately and assumes no knowledge of statistics and can be used with secondary students and beyond.

Study.com - STEM Education

Study.com is an online education platform that helps learners of all ages excel academically and close skills gaps. From test prep and homework help to earning low-cost college credit, Study.com's online courses, short animated video lessons and study tools have made learning simple for over 30 million students, teachers and working professionals. Study.com also has a non-profit arm called Working Scholars which provides free college education for city employees in several cities in California, in the process of expanding to cities around the country. Their mission is to make high quality education accessible to all.

Study.com offers guides on STEM education➶ and a listing of top U.S. high school STEM programs➶

TUTORIAL: Data Presentation -- A Guide to Good Graphics and Tables

This webpage➶ has the handouts and slides from a presentation to the Washington Statistical Society by Marianne Zawitz in 2000. The abstract states “Quality data presentations ensure user understanding by taking advantage of how users already process information, reduce the number of thought processes required to understand the data, and breakdown fundamental obstacles to understanding. This workshop will cover when to use graphics and tables, using your data to determine the type of graphic or table, the elements of good graphics and tables, and achieving clarity in presentation. Based on the principles set forth by Edward Tufte and William Cleveland, this is a practical workshop to show participants how to improve their presentations of quantitative data.”

United Nations Literacy Decade

English site➶

Spanish site➶

French site➶

The UN declared the years of 2003 to 2012 as the United Nations Literacy Decade. Although these webpages do not specifically address statistical literacy, they provide an overview of the information on the UN Literacy Decade.

We All Use Math Every Day

Texas Instruments➶ led this math education initiative based on the hit series “NUMB3RS. In partnership with CBS, and working in association with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), TI has created an educational outreach program promoting the many uses of mathematics and supporting math teaching. The program includes TI and NCTM-developed math education activities for teachers and students based on the “NUMB3RS” TV show. The math used in each episode of NUMB3RS is based on real FBI cases. Mathematics consultants worked with NUMB3RS throughout production to ensure that the math used to help analyze and solve crimes is real and accurate. Many of the shows are based on statistical applications and hence many of the activities are based on statistics.

"The Worth of Data" ("Valoredati") (In Italian)

The Worth of Data➶ ("Valoredati") contains materials designed to help students in the humanities and sciences, teachers, the general public and non-expert readers to improve their use of statistics and for anyone interested in using numbers to describe real life situations and make decisions. The hypertext is organized in three sections, which outline possible paths in the exploration of statistics. The main contents are in the central column and are organised in four chapters: using statistics to make decisions and evaluate policies (statistical data and decision making; statistics and equal opportunities; official statistics in Italy and in the world); the fundamentals of statistics: collection, production, dissemination (censuses; sample surveys; administrative sources; how data are collected, processed and disseminated); how to rely on the quality of statistical data (principles and norms governing the activity of national statistical offices and international bodies; shared methodologies, classifications, definitions and standards; protection of confidentiality); and how to use statistical data (statistical measures; how to prepare tables and charts; how to write a paper based on statistical data).