THE 13TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL DEMING RESEARCH SEMINAR

12-13 February 2007

New York City

 Michael Round

Educator

Center for autoSOCRATIC EXCELLENCE

www.rationalsys.com

The PLEASURE of FINDING THINGS OUT – STATISTICALLY

The Theory and Practice of the Profound Theory of Knowledge in K-12 Statistical Education

abstract

As adults, we see graphing and pictorial representation as helpful in understanding data, and assuming “what’s good for adults is good for children”, assign graphing lessons to students.  Of course, graphing data assumes one has data, and if the child has no meaningful data to graph, is provided “meaningful” tables.  What does this mean?  M&M’s, hair color, and teeth lost?  And to ensure interest is not lost, we make these graphs even less meaningful by making them extremely colorful!  Where is the pedagogy in any of this?

We see “box-and-whiskers” plots as helpful in understanding complex tables of data – as adults – and ask the young student to similarly create the plot.  What’s the nature of the data?  Why is a box-and-whiskers plot effective in this context?  No answers are given.  We only know “as adults it’s helpful”, and “what’s good for adults is good for children”.  More box-and-whiskers plots!  More stem-and-leaf plots!  More linear regression!  Why?  Because as adults we see they’re important, and “what’s good for adults is good for children!”

And the results, like the New Math movement, lead to a curriculum without a solid link to reality.  To make the curriculum relevant, the applications are either too difficult – and therefore meaningless, or very trivial – and again, meaningless.  The huge learning gap in the middle where real learning can take place is left unattended.

This talk will present various statistical projects incorporating many aspects of Dr. Deming’s Profound Theory of Knowledge.  The relationship between the error seen above and historical education errors will be considered, particularly in the context of “good people trying to do good things”.  Finally, a philosophy of “goodness” in statistical education will be explored.