Sensitive Issues, Risk, and Civic Statistics in the Classroom
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| Title: | Sensitive Issues, Risk, and Civic Statistics in the Classroom |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Jane M. Watson, Zalman Usiskin |
| Source: | For the Learning of Mathematics. 2025 45(2):2-7. |
| Availability: | FLM Publishing Association. 382 Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5, Canada. e-mail: flm2@ualberta.ca; Web site: https://flm-journal.org/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 6 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Descriptive |
| Education Level: | Secondary Education |
| Descriptors: | News Reporting, Weapons, Mathematics Education, Conferences (Gatherings), Statistics Education, Knowledge Level, Sampling, Ethics, Error Patterns, Risk, Controversial Issues (Course Content), Thinking Skills, Teaching Methods, Case Studies, Foreign Countries, Civics, Secondary School Students |
| Geographic Terms: | Australia, Illinois (Chicago) |
| ISSN: | 0228-0671 |
| Abstract: | A newspaper article about the availability of guns in Chicago, presented at a mathematics education conference in that city in 1998, is linked to a tragic shooting near that city in 2022. The article was used in Australia for many years in research with teachers and students to assess statistical literacy in relation to sampling, until ethics committees forbade its use. After a shooting outside of Chicago in 2022, renewed examination of the statistics leading to the article reveals errors in the reporting and raises policy questions related to the roles of risk and sensitive issues and, more generally, civic statistics in the classroom. Examples are presented of the unwillingness of ethics committees to allow discussions of such issues to take place in the classroom and of publishers not allowing such issues to be mentioned in their texts. Examples are also given of the types of questions that might be put forth to students. The authors argue that discussions of risk and sensitive issues provide applications of statistics and statistical thinking that are important for students to encounter. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Access URL: | https://flm-journal.org/index.php?do=show&lang=en&showMenu=45%2C2 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1477366 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | A newspaper article about the availability of guns in Chicago, presented at a mathematics education conference in that city in 1998, is linked to a tragic shooting near that city in 2022. The article was used in Australia for many years in research with teachers and students to assess statistical literacy in relation to sampling, until ethics committees forbade its use. After a shooting outside of Chicago in 2022, renewed examination of the statistics leading to the article reveals errors in the reporting and raises policy questions related to the roles of risk and sensitive issues and, more generally, civic statistics in the classroom. Examples are presented of the unwillingness of ethics committees to allow discussions of such issues to take place in the classroom and of publishers not allowing such issues to be mentioned in their texts. Examples are also given of the types of questions that might be put forth to students. The authors argue that discussions of risk and sensitive issues provide applications of statistics and statistical thinking that are important for students to encounter. |
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| ISSN: | 0228-0671 |
