Research on the teaching of classes on probability distributions and hypothesis testing in high school mathematics departments and universities

Abstract

Data is a prevalent concept in today's world. We are in an era of Big Data and the field of data science is possibly more important than it ever has been. Associate Professor Chieko Matsumoto, School of Education, University of Fukui, Japan, is an expert in data science who is conducting research on statistics and data science education in upper secondary schools and universities, with a focus on the concept of statistical hypothesis testing. Matsumoto's goal is to quantify what is lacking in the current mathematics curriculum in order to put forward recommendations to overcome challenges facing statistics and data science education. She and her team want to develop teaching materials and practical guidance on statistics and data science education. Their research approach and methods are developed with a focus on probability distributions and hypothesis testing. The researchers will conduct a questionnaire survey of upper secondary school teachers to clarify the various teaching problems and teaching difficulties that teachers encounter when teaching statistical hypothesis testing. The team is yet to obtain permission to conduct a large-scale questionnaire and so the researchers have been conducting small-scale interviews to establish an understanding of teaching difficulties faced by upper secondary school teachers.