Statistical education: current status and development directions
The article discusses current situation in statistics education in Russia and worldwide, its causes and importance of mathematical training for statistical education. Challenges in online education are discussed along with readiness of students and teachers to learn contemporary statistics. Main features of modern online courses on statistics and the results of their mastering by students, as well as issues of interaction between specialists in applied statistics and statisticians-"researchers" are described. The authors of this article point out that the role of statistics in the modern world, as a tool to identify hidden patterns and dependencies, is generally underestimated. The main topics and results of the International Conference on Teaching Statistics together with current issues of statistics education are discussed. The distribution of the conference papers from different countries and regions of the world is analyzed. The directions for discussions by the following main topics are described: Innovative collaboration in statistics education, Statistics education at school level, Education and development of staff who teach statistics, Statistics education at the post-secondary level, Statistics education in the disciplines and the workplace, Innovation and reform in teaching probability within statistics, Statistical literacy in the wider society, Research in statistics education, Technology in statistics education, Sustaining strengths and building capacity in statistics education. Special emphasis is laid on the importance of mastering the necessary mathematical methods for teaching statistics and using them as the main tool for pro providing the possibility of meaningful understanding and effective use of statistical methods for the solution of contemporary problems of processing and analyzing large heterogeneous datasets. The set of major disadvantages of statistics education in Russian Federation is formulated.