The major benefit of this approach to learning is that students get more involved and make discoveries by trial and error, rather than having to be told everything. Top 15 Teaching Applied Statistics in Higher Education Keith Jones, Sheffield Hallam University Keith Jones describes the approach to teaching statistics on the nationally respected degree in Applied Statistics at Sheffield Hallam University. Sheffield was the leader in this approach to teaching the subject, and several other new universities now share the same philosophy and view on applied statistics teaching. The emphasis at Sheffield is on problem formulation, skills in interpretation and communication. Keith describes the context of the 4-year sandwich course and a clear emphasis is placed on care for students, especially so because of the high variability in the background of the student intake.
Teaching methods reflect a constant theme of practical, rather than theoretical, use of statistics.
Communication skills are a core component of the degree, and stress is placed upon an awareness of the real world environment in which practising statisticians operate. Top 16 Selling Statistics to Sixth Formers Alan Jones, University of Wales at Aberystwyth Alan Jones reports some of his experiences with selling statistics to schools and colleges in and around Wales. The university has an exemplary record of taking all subjects into sixth forms, and Alan has pioneered spreading the statistical message. He reviews the early history of probability and discusses randomness, rare events and the development of the Poisson distribution. Teachers of statistics in universities have a responsibility to be leaders in this this important activity at school level.