Inference, or decision making, is seen in curriculum documents as the final step in a statistical investigation. For a formal statistical enquiry this may be associated with sophisticated tests involving probability distributions. For young students without the mathematical background to perform such tests, it is still possible to draw informal…

The Test of Written English (TWE), administered with certain designated examinations of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), consists of a single essay prompt to which examinees have 30 minutes to respond. Questions have been raised about the comparability of different TWE prompts. This study was designed to elicit essays for prompts…

This activity guide is a supplement to the November 1996 issue of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Student Math Notes. It contains a series of problems based on one main story problem. Using this problem and the other problems contained in the guide based on it, students explore different mathematical concepts such as graph theory,…

Graphs without a time axis, such as velocity-versus-position graphs, offer interesting possibilities for exploring graphing and motion. Relations depicted by these graphs are not limited to functions. Interviews with a high school student named Olivia, who uses a motion detector to create such graphs, indicate that she uses thought experiments as…

This generic science education study demonstrates the contrast of findings obtained through analyzing all the raw data as opposed to removing various combinations of identified potential outliers provided through the application of six diagnostic procedures. Outliers are defined as extreme data points with large residuals. It is argued that an…

The scree test and its linear regression technique are reviewed, and results of its use in factor analysis and Delphi data sets are described. The scree test was originally a visual approach for making judgments about eigenvalues, which considered the relationships of the eigenvalues to one another as well as their actual values. The graph that is…

Weather data gathered from the local newspaper can be used in teaching a unit on statistics. (SD)

Intuition in mathematics is essential but it must be based on good knowledge of mathematics. An example related to velocity, time, and area is presented and discussed, with models, visual approaches, and geometric arguments noted. (Author/KM)

The author describes a series of current economic ideas and situations which can be used in the mathematics classroom to illustrate the use of signed numbers, the coordinate system, univariate and multivariate functions, linear programing, and variation. (SD)

This packet includes six statistical profiles of American Indians and Alaska Natives based on the 1980 census, and a report on 1990 census plans for Native Americans. Three general profiles outline statistics on: (1) the American Indian population as a whole; (2) selected characteristics of American Indian men; and (3) selected characteristics of…

This guide to the discovery, analysis, production, communication, and use of statistical information through graphic forms produced by a computer is designed to enable researchers to conduct their analyses and report research results more effectively. It is designed both for individuals with little knowledge about the use of statistical graphs or…

This paper presents the 1976-1977 allocation of monies by the New York City Board of Education to New York City's thirty-two decentralized community school districts. It is organized around five modules. Each module consists of a grouping of functional activities for which separate allocation formulae are utilized. The modules cover the following…

The report tabulates and analyzes responses to two questionnaires returned by 531 (out of 1672) profit and non-profit publishers of 974 (out of 2552) United States scholarly and research journals. Certain categories of periodicals were excluded because they were not believed to ordinarily contain communications useful for scholarly purposes, or…