MAA/ASA Position
In order to successfully develop a student's ability to think statistically, a teacher of an introductory statistics course must have deep knowledge of statistics as well as an appreciation of the differences between statistical thinking and mathematical thinking. Statistics teachers need to understand the ways that statisticians work with real data and approach problems, and to experience the joys of making discoveries using statistical reasoning. Anyone unfamiliar with the data-driven techniques used in modern introductory statistics courses should be mentored by an experienced statistics instructor.
Ideally, a department considering hiring or selecting someone to teach an introductory statistics course should require a candidate to have at least a master’s degree with a strong concentration in statistics. But because this is often not possible, the individual should have at a minimum at least the equivalent of
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Two statistical methods courses including content knowledge of data collection methods, study design and statistical inference, and
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Experience with data analysis beyond material taught in the introductory class. This experience could come from advanced courses, projects, consulting or research.
There is an active statistics education community and we strongly encourage all statistics instructors to make use of the many resources provided by the community. These include attending a workshop, minicourse or conference on teaching statistics, using available web resources, and reading articles from mathematicians and statisticians discussing key pedagogical differences between these fields. Information about resources and relevant professional development opportunities are provided in the PDF of the full statement, available below.
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