A number of us were part of a lovely meeting a while back on statistics. Iddo Gal started the meeting by sharing an overview of a guide he and a few colleagues created for teaching civic statistics and statistical literacy. Iddo is presented at the U.S. Conference on Teaching Statistics in Pennsylvania a few weeks after the CAMI meeting.
Usha Kotelawala then led the group through the intriguing problem below.
Beginning in the late 1920s, China adopted a one-child policy to reduce population growth. However, given China’s traditions that first-born males inherited property and were typically responsible for care of the elderly, some of the Chinese population thought the better policy would have been a “one-son” policy that allowed families to keep having children until they had a son.
Under this One-Son plan, if a family has a child and it is a son, they stop having children. If it is a daughter, they can try again, and they can keep trying until they have a son. If they give birth to a son, they would then stop having children.
Pose a few quantitative questions that you might consider.
Usha posed this problem to the group.
Usha suggested that we might consider a series of meetings focused on probability and statistics. I really like the idea (knowing I have so much to learn) and it seems that others are interested as well.
Usha and Iddo both shared readings as well (attached). Iddo’s booklet is Developing Understanding of Civic Statistics and Statistical Literacy. Usha’s white paper is Research Findings and Essentials of Statistics. I really appreciate both Usha’s and Iddo’s guidance in this introduction of statistics and probability. Thank you both.
By the way, we were honored to also have Lynda Ginsburg in attendance at this meeting. Lynda is a founding member of the Adult Numeracy Network (ANN), an organization many of us have leaned on over the years. Lynda has made innumerable contributions to the field of adult numeracy, including the 2010 report, Algebraic Thinking in Adult Education, which she co-authored with Myrna Manly. Lynda and Iddo have published a number of papers on adult numeracy and statistics education together, including Instructional Strategies for Teaching Adult Numeracy Skills.
