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Real-world data are fundamental to modern teaching methodologies that aim to improve statistical knowledge and reasoning in students. Statistical information is encountered in everyday life, such as media articles and involves real-world contexts. However, information could be biased or (mis)represented and students should be concerned about the validity of such articles, as well as the nature and trustworthiness of the evidence presented, while considering alternative interpretations of the findings conveyed to them. Statistics educators could make use of media articles to create opportunities for students to reflect on such (mis)representations and build statistical literacy. The purpose of this article is to show how information and data on the Omicron COVID-19 variant have been (mis)represented in the media and by government entities. I also demonstrate how these examples may be utilized in the statistics classroom as they relate to concepts covered in most basic statistics courses.

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, but what about graphs? Although graphs have the potential to bring data to life, numerous studies show that learners struggle with graphical comprehension. Furthermore, many textbook examples on graphs are boring and appear meaningless to students. Students want to know more about something which is interesting, meaningful, and worth knowing, in other words, something relevant. With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in December 2019, COVID-19 is dominating the news worldwide, and the internet is flooded with visual presentations about the virus. To make statistics more fascinating and exciting, relevant and real-world data such as these can be used in the classroom to stimulate the learning of important statistical concepts such as graphs. Curcio's three levels of graphical comprehension were used as a framework in this study, while the importance of developing a global view on distributions was also emphasized.

Examination papers are used around the globe as assessments for learning, as learning and of learning. Many academics seek to maintain a balance between lower order and higher order cognitive questions in these papers, seeking to help students transform their knowledge from quantitative to qualitative in nature. Some achieve this by using different illustrative verbs from the six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. The purpose of this research is to investigate the degree to which different levels of questions in a summative examination predict the final grade of two types of students in a compulsory electrical engineering module. These two groups are termed ECP students (students who undertake an additional year of study prior to enrolling in a mainstream programme) and ]VISP students (students who enroll for a mainstream programme directly after completing their high-school career). Stepwise regression was used to analyze the data (n = 64 for the ECP group and n = 487 for the MSP group from 2016 and 2017) to find a set of independent variables (individual questions in the summative examination) that significantly influence the dependent variable (final grade of the summative examination). Results indicate that, on average, three out of six questions contributed the most to the final grades of the ECP students while all six questions were found to contribute for MSP students. A key deficiency in ECP students was noted regarding applied mathematics required in the analysis and design of electrical circuits. A possible recommendation is to expose ECP students to more physical science questions that require several different equations during their additional year of study to better help them demonstrate important higher-order cognitive skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students who complete their high school education are, at times, not adequately prepared fur further studies in higher education. Some of these students struggle to meet the challenges associated with heavy workloads, extra laboratory work and a blended-learning environment. These underprepared students need additional academic support if they are to succeed with their university studies. One such support includes an additional year of study (part of an Extended Curriculum Programme aimed at improving student preparedness) prior to enrolling in a mainstream programme where they may study towards a Diploma or Bachelor's degree. The purpose of this article is to contrast the performance of these students to those who directly entered a mainstream programme, thereby highlighting the benefit of an additional year of study in helping students to become better prepared. This contrast is primarily based on their main examination grades that they achieved in a first-year compulsory module that forms part of a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering. Sixty-four students, with an additional year of study, are contrasted to 487 students who entered a mainstream programme directly between 2016 and 20 I 7. Both groups of students struggled with questions relating to design which is correlated to the synthesis level in Bloom's Taxonomy. However, the average grade difference between the two groups never exceeded 10%, with the average being 6.994. The contribution to education is the positive results achieved by these first-year students who enrolled for an extended curriculum programme, thereby supporting its continuance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]