Preface
In February, May and September each year around 1200 subscribers worldwide receive
the latest issue of Teaching Statistics packed with the latest ideas.
The first editor - Peter Holmes - assembled a collection of the
best articles from Volumes 1-5 and the second editor - David Green -
did the same for Volumes 6-14. Both books proved very popular and are now sold
out. We have followed these successes with this book which is compiled from
Volumes 15-21 which appeared under the editorships first of Neville Hunt and
subsequently Gerald Goodall. We have been assisted in the difficult selection
task by the Editorial Board. It includes all articles which have won the C.
Oswald George prize administered by the Royal Statistical Society for the best
article in each volume.
This
book is published at the start of the new millennium seeking to carry forward
the very best ideas from the last. There is a growing interest in data handling
(or statistics) worldwide and we hope that this book can assist those who
have the exciting task of promoting this activity in school and college curricula.
The
Teaching Statistics Trust was established in 1978 for the purpose of
furthering study and research in statistical education for the public benefit.
The first work of the Trust was to establish the journal Teaching Statistics,
the first issue of which was published in January 1979. Sponsoring bodies
were the Applied Probability Trust, the Institute of Statisticians,
the International Statistical Institute and the Royal Statistical
Society.
The
journal seeks to help teachers of geography, biology, the sciences, social
science, business studies, economics, etc. by showing how statistical ideas
can illuminate their work and how to make proper use of statistics in their
teaching. It
