Teaching Statistics is pleased to announce that the article entitled “A simple activity to introduce matched pairs and learning effect” by Allison Davidson has been awarded the Peter Holmes prize for 2025.
Recipients of this prize need to demonstrate excellence in motivating practical classroom activities. Activities that are clear, succinct, and ready to take from the shelf are exactly what busy statistics educators are looking for, when searching for activities to deliver in their classrooms. They also need to be engaging and easy to follow from a student perspective, with all the right ingredients listed and easy to source, to be used as part of the activity. This article ticks all these boxes, right off the page! And not only that, it presents opportunities for statistics educators to adapt the level of the activity, suited to their needs of their classroom level. The activity consists of students filling in two lines of circles, one using their dominant and the other using their nondominant hand. The difference in time to fill in the circles is compared. Completed within a 75-minute timeframe, the activity can also be undertaken with the aid of R, however low technology alternatives are also suggested, depending on the availability of resources.
Read the Announcement in full here.
History of the prize
The aim of this prize is to highlight excellence in motivating practical classroom activity. It is a fitting tribute to Peter Holmes who was a pioneer, leader, developer, evaluator and tireless advocate over many decades for the teaching of statistical practice and thinking across school levels and disciplines. He also cogently argued for these at foundational and introductory levels post-school. His advocacy of data investigations in UK school curricula in the 1970’s became the Plan, Collect, Process, Discuss (PCPD) description of the statistical data investigation process whose well-established role in statistical education pedagogy and practice is now being matched by similar advocacy in data science. Peter was Director of the Schools Council Project on Statistics Education at the University of Sheffield from 1975 to 1980. In 1978 the Teaching Statistics Trust was established, with Peter one of the first trustees, and the first editor of Teaching Statistics established by the Trust. Peter became the inaugural Director of the Centre for Statistical Education set up in 1983 jointly by University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, co-chaired by Vic Barnett and Warren Gilchrist. In 1995 when this became the RSSCSE (Royal Statistical Society Centre for Statistical Education) and moved first to Nottingham University and then, in 1999, to Nottingham Trent University, Peter continued his work with the Centre, contributing to resources, reports and dedication to every aspect of good practice in teaching statistics. He was truly inspirational in everything he did.
We are pleased to honour Peter Holmes’ lifetime of achievements in teaching statistics through this prize.