María Angélica Suavita-Ramírez’s research while affiliated with Autonomous University of Madrid and other places

The aim of this paper is first to examine, through a qualitative analysis of statistics syllabi, the current state of statistical education in a sample of universities in Colombia. The focus is on statistics teaching in degrees for economics and business administration students. The results from the qualitative analysis reflect a preponderance of traditional and didactic teaching methods centered on the teacher, not on the student. The second aim is to present findings from a case study that has developed an innovative pedagogical intervention, called a data fellows program, from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, which evidences opportunities for how statistics can be taught effectively to non-STEM majors. Further, the data fellows model has also been explored in the context of developing statistical and data skills capacities in Latin America. We reflect on how the lessons from the UK case study could open up opportunities for rethinking the teaching of statistics in Colombia through developing data projects and experiential learning to practice statistics in the real world.

Usually, the role of universities has a special focus on quality teaching and research, in line with the training of new professionals and challenging the frontiers of knowledge. The university academic portfolio is expected to fulfill the aspirations not only of the new student communities, but also of the needs of the productive sector, guaranteeing the reduction of gaps between higher education and industry. On the other hand, the research agenda as a transfer exercise also connects university work with the resolution of complex problems in society. However, this double commitment sometimes occurs within the institutions and remains in them. The third mission of the university that focuses on social projection, generates an urgent call so that the action of higher education institutions, the learning that is built there and the research can reach the communities that need it most and, in this way, allow universities to reconfigure themselves as large living laboratories that work hand in hand with communities to support the solution of their problems. In this communication, we show some actions already executed and validated that show the commitment of the Universidad del Rosario, in Colombia, with rural communities or with certain population sectors traditionally marginalized or attacked by violence or poverty. These actions come from the curriculum or research agenda and are intimately connected with the missionary function of a university almost 4 centuries old. Some of them have to do with the relationship between technology and rural entrepreneurship, female empowerment in STEM skills, especially that which corresponds to girls and adolescents from vulnerable communities, new teaching and learning formats to strengthen critical thinking and social justice in mathematics, as well as multidisciplinarity between educational sectors that traditionally did not dialogue, all this especially in connection with the learning of diverse students and with interesting new readings of the world.

This volume contains the papers presented at the International Conference Building on the Past to Prepare for the Future held from August 8-13, 2022, in King’s College, Cambridge, UK. It was the 16th conference organised by The Mathematics Education for the Future Project - an international educational and philanthropic project founded in 1986 and dedicated to innovation in mathematics, statistics, science and computer education world wide.