Caught in the path of the data deluge

Chris Wild from The University of Auckland, presents at the Auckland Mathematics Association and Department of Statistics (University of Auckland) Statistics Teachers Day.
There is a rapidly increasing awareness of the so-called “data deluge’: the explosion in quantities of data being collected, the explosion of settings in which it is being collected, and the expansions in the conceptions and scope of what constitutes data. This is accompanied by advances in ways of visualising data and accessible data-visualisation tools. Teachers of mathematics and statistics are standing at a critical juncture in the path of the data deluge – critical for preparing students (and through them the wider society) to better cope with its continuing onslaught. Over the past few years New Zealand secondary school teachers have begun to implement some large, forward looking changes to help prepare for this new world. We will look at the biggest ideas underlying learning from data and what is being done about them in Year’s 9-13. Also we will look forward and put this in the context of future easy extensions and of “big data”. What is needed to make the leap to understanding much bigger data sets? What changes and to what extent does the song remain the same (to appropriate a Led Zeppelin song tittle)?

Note: The link is to Chris Wild’s 2013 NZAMT keynote address as the sound recording quality at Statistics Day was poor.

Caught in the Path of the Data Deluge