Statistics and the Modern Student

The introductory statistics course has traditionally targeted consumers of statistics with the intent of producing a citizenry capable of a critical analysis of basic published statistics. More recently, statistics educators have attempted to centre the intro course on real data, in part to motivate students and in part to create a more relevant course. The success of this approach is predicated on providing data that the students see as real and relevant. Modern students, however, have a different view of data than did students of 10 or even 5 years ago. Modern statistics courses must adjust to the fact that students' first exposure to data occurs outside the academy. Copyright (c) 2010 The Author. Journal compilation (c) 2010 International Statistical Institute.