MRS. KURJI PARIN (Retired)

Until recently, the teaching of statistics in East Africa has been a traditional chalk-and-talk affair. In the last few years computers have become more widely accessible. At the same time many statistical resources of the highest quality are freely available for Africa, including Computer- Assisted Statistics Textbooks (CAST), an electronic textbook, GenStat Discovery Edition, (a statistics package), and training resources such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Training Pack DVD prepared by Statistics Services Centre (SSC) , Reading University. This means that change is not only possible but is within reach of lecturers all over Africa. Experiences at two Kenyan universities are described. Initiatives for undergraduates and postgraduates in both service teaching and specialist teaching of statistics are discussed.

This paper examines briefly some of the problems of teaching statistics to agriculture students in the traditional manner. The current teaching has consisted of foundation courses on the statistical concepts at undergraduate level followed by a design and analysis of experiments course at postgraduate level. This is compared with a newer approach which comprises a change at both levels. With the traditional approach the students found it difficult to integrate the statistical concepts into their project work, and this undermined the quality of their research. The new approach concentrates on exploring the whole process of planning and implementing research projects and includes an intensive course in basic statistical concepts, with emphasis on critical thinking in problem solving. The paper ends with an evaluation of the impact of this approach at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and with plans for the future.