In a report to the Mathematical Association of America, Davis (1989) stated that at the college level:
. . . statistics is an area of instruction that is now essential for all students. [However] too few of today's students are exposed to statistics and the courses to which they are exposed are often not appropriate to the student's context. This report recommends that. . .statistical instruction be significantly revised. . . (p.1)
According to Moore and Witmer (1991), two primary factors have contributed to the poor condition of statistical education at many colleges. First, statistical experts are under-represented among mathematical faculty. Indeed, the authors state that approximately half of all math departments at liberal arts colleges have no faculty members with advanced degrees in statistics.
Second, Moore and Witmer (1991) point out that most colleges are dominated by a focus on core mathematics rather than upon either statistical science or applied mathematics, and they do not seem to fully appreciate the fundamental differences between statistics and core mathematics. These differences, the authors state, are that: (1) core mathematics and statistics differ in their objects f study (core mathematics focuses on the abstracts of space while statistics focuses on data); and (2) core mathematics and statistics differ in their methods (core mathematics focuses on deduction while statistical thinking focuses on a dialogue between models and data).
Regarding the teaching of statistics, at the college level it is important to point out that one of the most effective instructional tools for the teaching of math and science in general has been Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI). Indeed, in a meta-analysis of over 199 studies of CAI (101 of which were conducted using samples of college and university students), Kulik and Kulik (1987) observed that:
1. Students generally learned more in classes when they received ...