Teaching and outreach resources
The RSS has a goal of supporting public understanding and engagement, working to ensure that people of all ages can understand the data and statistics that influence the world around them.
Education outreach
The RSS encourages fellows to participate in education outreach activities, such as:
- STEM Ambassadors: a UK-wide network linking people working in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) with schools and providing training and development.
- Maths 4 Girls (M4G): an initiative dedicated to inspiring young minds through events (eg talks, skills sessions and career workshops) and work experience placements.
- Stemettes: a social enterprise working to engage, inform and connect the next generation of women and non-binary people into science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.
- I’m a scientist…. or I’m an engineer, get me out of here online competitions enabling young people in schools across the UK and Ireland to talk to people working in science and engineering.
- Nuffield Research Placements: summer placement scheme for secondary school students to undertake research in businesses and universities across the UK.
- Royal Institution (Ri) Masterclasses: hands-on and interactive extra-curricular sessions in mathematics, engineering and computer science for young people across the UK.
- School governors: contributing to the success of schools through governance and oversight.
Teaching resources
- RSS William Guy Lecturer resources – recorded or live talks, on a particular theme, to inspire young people about statistics and data.
- RSS Hands-on statistics are ready-made resources for engaging young people in statistics activities.
- RSS Career development section can inspire upper secondary school students to explore careers in statistics.
- The UK Data Service has teaching datasets (with real data) and resources for teaching about quantitative data, qualitative data and data management.
- Skew the Script – a range of resources exploring relevant data in civics, economics, medicine, social media, sports and more (developed in the US).
- American Statistical Association (ASA) has compiled a list of useful websites for teachers (developed for the US curriculum).
- Navigating numbers – the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data education programme for students aged 16 years and over, including a series of classroom toolkits.
- Gapminder has a wealth of resources for teaching and demonstrating statistics in the real world.
- Mathematics Education Innovation (MEI) resources on exploring data with technology.
- Dr Frost resources include practice exam questions, explanations and courses.
- Oak National Academy – a range of resources including on statistics and data.
- Resourceaholic – ideas and resources for teaching secondary school maths, including statistics and data.
Books and journals on teaching statistics
- Teaching Statistics - a journal aimed at people teaching statistics at school and junior undergraduate level. The journal publishes material related to teaching and learning that is likely to be of broad interest to educators, including original research, case studies and articles describing novel teaching methods and technologies.
- Statistics Education Research Journal (SERJ) – published by the International Association for Statistical Education (IASE), including original research and reviews of research literature.
- Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education (JSDSE) - journal with a broad remit, encompassing original research, case studies, reviews of educational materials and review articles.
- Technology Innovations in Statistics Education (TISE) - a journal focusing on new technologies, or novel use of existing technologies, in statistical education.
- Jones R.C. (2024). Statistical Literacy: A Beginner’s Guide. Sage Publications.
Other societies promoting statistics education
Conferences and meetings (largely higher education)
RSS e-Teacher membership and Teaching Statistics Section
We offer free online e-Teacher membership for school teachers, to help you be involved with our work and stay in touch with the statistical and data community. You can also join our Teaching Statistics Section. Find out more and join today.
Contact us on policy@rss.org.uk if you have any questions.