Visiting Statistics Lecture .... coming to YOUR school!

[Nevil Hopley]

Hello Scottish Maths Teachers.

This posting is about how you could help foster interest in Statistics with the younger pupils in your schools, from S1 to S5.

We are fortunate to have in Scotland at the moment 2 of the 3 annual 'William Guy Lecturers' who can come into your school and talk to just a class of pupils, or much larger groups ... and all for FREE! Here's a short blurb of information about them:

Craig Anderson, a statistics lecturer from the University of Glasgow, wants to visit as many secondary schools as possible as part of the Royal Statistical Society’s William Guy Lectureship, which is a school outreach programme. The talk is specifically aimed at secondary school students (S1 to S5) and focuses on how statistics is used to help us understand and monitor air pollution across the UK. It helps students to think about the maths and statistics behind whole process of estimating pollution, including the decisions about where to place monitoring stations and the models which let us turn the monitoring data into nationwide estimates. More details on the talk can be found here. https://rss.org.uk/policy-campaigns/policy-groups/education-policy-advisory-group/rss-william-guy-lecturers/current-rss-william-guy-lecturers-2023-24/

So, please click on the link and read more about the talks. There are short videos of the talks too so that you can preview what the talk will contain, but we all know that a real person in front of a class of pupils is much more engaging and adds to the interactivity of the event.

You can also refer this information onto any Primary School colleagues who want the talk from Katherine Whyte to come to them!

This is a unique opportunity to plant the seeds of a data-based future in the minds our our future Statisticians and Data Analysts. Please do all you can to follow this through within the constraints of your busy schools.

With many thanks, on behalf of all the William Guy Lecturers.

Nevil