Italian NSI for the school. A new project to promote statistical literacy in Italian regions

Abstract

A key activity of Istat, Italian NSI, is that of promoting statistical literacy. In recent years this goal was further strengthened through the constitution of a network of around 80 experts of the territorial offices and the activation of proper synergies with the former School of Statistics and Socio-Economic Analysis (SAES). The most part of the network activities are devoted to promoting initiatives for the education system (teachers and students).

One of the latest releases of the network is the “community of sharing experiences between Istat operators and teachers”, a place through which to discuss, share experiences and identify new approaches to the teaching of statistics across a process of cooperative intelligence. A particularly promising area of action is related to the use of virtual reality for the transfer of educational content.

The Territorial Office for Apulia, maintaining and further developing the main goals of the network, acts synergistic actions of disseminations in many schools of the region. Tools adopted are mainly those of the educational packages. Methods of administration are quite innovative. There is a specific attention to find instruments of linkage between teachers in order to share educational technology and skills to develop students' abilities in the area of calculation, interpretation and graphical representation of data. A further instrument introduced to guide students towards critical thinking is that of laboratory. By means of laboratories students of secondary school are able to follow all the entire process of data production, from microdata to methods of synthesis.