The Characteristic of Statistics Education in Japan by Comparison with New Zealand: From the Viewpoint of Contexts and Social Values

Abstract

　　STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education has become famous all over the world, and statistics education also has to play its role in this education. That’s why the author focused on statistics education, and the purpose of this paper is to clarify the characteristic of statistics education in Japan.  

　　In order to achieve this purpose, the author compared statistics education in Japan with this education in New Zealand. The reason why the author paid attention to New Zealand is that Japan has to cope with globalization and internationalization from now such as New Zealand which has already had much experience on them. In the comparative analysis of textbooks, the author designed three lenses: the presence or absence of contexts within problems, the presence or absence of practicalities, and the presence or absence of contexts within expected solutions for problems.   

　　As a result of the comparative analysis, the following characteristic of statistics education in Japan was suggested: statistics education in Japan is endeavoring to add contexts to problems themselves, but it cannot be said that statistics education in Japan is endeavoring to add contexts to expected solutions for problems.