Statistical Society NSW Monthly Meeting: Howley -- National and local initiatives in Statistics Education

This month’s NSW Stats Society talk is on Wednesday evening this week (1st June) and 
focuses on Statistics education, primarily the National Statistics Poster Competition.  
Details appear below.  

Best wishes, 

Michael 

=== 

Time: 
6:00pm - 6:30pm: Refreshments 
6:30pm - 7:30pm: Lecture 
7:45pm onwards: Dinner  (at a nearby restaurant) 

Venue: CB07.03.010B G.  Level 3, University of Technology, Sydney - Building 7, 638
Jones Street, Ultimo, NSW 2007 

 Dr Peter Howley, The University of Newcastle, Australia 

Title: National and local initiatives in Statistics Education 

Australian teachers aresaying "a rewarding experience", "a great competition", 
"21st Century learning at its best", "a resounding success...motivates and engages 
students".  Mentors are saying "I was inspired by their keenness", "provides students 
a unique opportunity".  What are they talking about? 
The successful annual National Statistics Poster Competition! 

The presentation will outline this national project-based learning activity, describing
its aims, methods and outcomes.  It will describe how the activity facilitates boundary
encounters (between primary, secondary, tertiary education, and industry sectors), and
engages students with varied (and not necessarily mathematical) backgrounds and areas of
interest, and how it develops key communication, research and quantitative skills
aligned with NSW BOSTES and Australian curriculum outcomes.  

The talk will also describe other current mathematics and statistics education
initiatives underway as part of national and local projects which aim to inspire
students and teachers and assist them to overcome barriers associated with learning
statistics and "statistical anxiety"; with a key focus on low SES, remotely-located
and culturally diverse students and schools.  Biography of Dr Peter Howley Dr Peter
Howley is Chair of the Statistical Society of Australia’s Statistical Education
Section and Senior Lecturer, Statistics, The University of Newcastle, Australia.  

Peter received a 2015 Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) Citation for Outstanding
Contributions to Student Learning and undertakes interdisciplinary STEM-related
research.  Peter piloted and now annually coordinates a successful National Schools
Poster Competition for primary and secondary schools.  He is also part of an
inter-institutional OLT grant to improve recruitment, training, and retention of
mathematics teachers, "Inspiring Mathematics and Science In Teacher Education"
(IMSITE), and leads a HEPPP-funded National Statistics Initiative to assist low SES,
remotely-located and culturally diverse students overcome barriers associated with
learning statistics and "statistical anxiety".  

Peter undertakes collaborative research with the Health Services Research Group
(Australia), Taipei Medical University (Taiwan) and Australian Council on Healthcare
Standards on Bayesian hierarchical models and methods for improving clinical indicator
reporting systems and monitoring and improving health care systems and performance.  He
also conducts collaborative research with Schools of Education and is a member of the
Priority Research Centre CARMA (Computer-Assisted Research Mathematics and its
Applications).  

See also https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/peter-howley and follow on twitter
@peterhowley0.