The International Research Collaboration on Statistical Reasoning, Thinking, and Literacy (SRTL)

The International Research Collaboration on Statistical Reasoning, Thinking, and Literacy (SRTL) began in 1999 to foster current and innovative research studies that examine the nature and development of statistical literacy, reasoning, and thinking, and to explore the challenge posed to educators at all levels— and to develop these desired learning goals for students. The SRTL Research Forums – that were established and are co-chaired by Joan Garfield and Dani Ben-Zvi – offer scientific gatherings every two years sponsored by various international academic institutions.

The Research Forums offer an opportunity for a small, interdisciplinary group of researchers from around the world to share their work, discuss important issues, and initiate collaborative projects. The research forums were held in Israel (SRTL1 1999), Australia (“Reasoning about statistics”, SRTL2 2001), USA (“Statistical Reasoning about variability”, SRTL3 2003), New Zealand (“Statistical reasoning about distribution”, SRTL4 2005), and UK (“Reasoning about informal statistical inference”, SRTL5 2007), Australia (“The Role of Context and Evidence in Informal Inferential Reasoning”, SRTL6 2009), ("New approaches to developing reasoning about samples and sampling in informal statistical inference", SRTL7 2011), ("Reasoning about Uncertainty in the Context of Making Informal Statistical Inferences", SRTL8 2013), Germany ("Reasoning about Models and Modelling in the Context of Informal Statistical Inference", SRTL9 2015), New Zealand ("Innovations in statistical modelling to connect data, chance and context", SRTL10 2017).

As a result of these gatherings, there is now a growing network of researchers interested in studying the development of students’ statistical literacy, reasoning, and thinking at all age levels. The topics of these research studies conducted by members of this community reflect the shift in emphasis in statistics instruction, from focusing on procedural understanding, i.e., statistical techniques, formulas, computations and procedures, to developing conceptual understanding and statistical literacy, reasoning and thinking. The SRTL Collaboration resulted in several publications including special issues of Statistics Education Research Journal (SERJ), articles in other refereed journals, books, and curricular materials.

For more information see: http://srtl.info/.