submitted by schield@augsburg.edu
Milo Schield, faculty Emeritus in the department of Business Administration, is giving a paper (Statistical Literacy: Quantitative Rhetoric for the 21 Century) at the 2024 AAC&U conference on General Education in their “Innovation and Emerging Ideas” session Friday April 12. Schield is teaching Statistical Literacy at New College of Florida and online at the University of New Mexico. Statistical literacy is designed for data consumers. It has less than a 30% overlap with traditional statistics courses which are designed for data producers. Statistical literacy studies how everyday statistics are constructed and manipulated. It doesn’t use computer software or Algebra. It has a strong focus on the use of ordinary English to describe and compare rates and percentages (conditional probabilities) presented in statements, tables and graphs. It deals with disparities and how they can be changed by the context (what is taken into account) without taking a position on whether these disparities are due to discrimination. This course is being required for graduate students in statistics at the University of New Mexico. Students like this math-English critical thinking course. Most agree or strongly agree that Statistical Literacy should be required of all college students for graduation. Kendall-Hunt published Schield’s Statistical Literacy textbook in 2023.
https://gepa.secure-platform.com/site/solicitations/102003/sessiongallery/94097