Advanced technicians in today's high-performance workplace are expected to have skills in using statistics for continuous process improvement. The proposed project is: (1) Preparing technicians for high-performance workplaces that utilize statistical methods for continuous process improvement and quality control; (2) Providing world-of-work contexts for learning statistics for lower-division transfer students and for technicians in training: (3) Introducing students to technical fields, technicians, and workplaces which apply statistics; and (4) Making the courseware created in the project available to other schools and training programs. Authentic applications help students understand important statistical concepts and provide them with knowledge of actual work environments. The project is developing, piloting, evaluating and disseminating four multimedia curricular modules which feature computer simulations of real-world industrial applications to teach problem-solving with statistics, in particular statistical process control. The activities and materials are being developed by mathematics faculty with the partnership of regional manufacturers, a professional statistician, and a quality control engineer. A version of the modules runs over the world wide web and a final version is being published on CD-ROM. The modules are appropriate for use in core statistics courses and for courses to upgrade skills of the technical workforce.
