Interdisciplinarity: Ways to Improve Data and Statistical Literacy

Working on Numbers (IQ, Fall 2009) and modeling multishaped reality through data, I discovered an unexpected and widespread desire to recognize the charming appeal of numbers. This Paper describes how the curiosity for a better knowledge of numbers comes out and what we can do to transform this curiosity into a desire to learn. Curiosity often is the first step toward knowledge and it is evenly distributed among disciplines: the poster will illustrate this natural and parallel interest in numbers to show genuine interdisciplinary ways to improve both data use and statistical literacy. I will present a collection of samples extracted from literature (Paulos and others) and the media world (TV, newspapers, magazines, social networks) to show why the knowledge of numbers and statistical data is needed to understand the real world. Furthermore, I will use two examples from my teaching experience to show how it is possible to teach the "feeling" for statistical numbers: the first is the Numbers Meaning course held [sp1] by METIS Ricerche; and the second is the Master in Data Analysis and Business Intelligence designed and conducted by METIS Ricerche in cooperation with the University of Turin