7. Internet resources of interest 8. Information on past conferences 9. Forthcoming conferences NOTES AND COMMENTS 1. This has been a very productive summer, where we were able to meet and discuss our ideas on statistical education at different conferences. In particular, it was very pleasant and rewarding to meet so many members and to receive your support and feedback at the ICOTS V Study Group meeting. We are now starting to introduce the changes announced at that meeting, by involving John

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... ruran, from the University of Adelaide, as a co-editor of the Newsletter, and by including a bibliography on bayesian statistics prepared by Bruno Lecoutre. From January 1999 John will be taking over the compilation of specific bibliographies and critical summaries of selected papers. People volunteering to help us in editing other specific sections of the newsletter are welcome. This issue contains a detailed report of the work carried out at the III Iberoamerican Conference of Mathematics Education (III Cibem, Caracas, July, 1998). A stochastics working group has been set up at this conference, with an initial number of 24 researchers from different Iberoamerican countries, where there is an increasing potential for statistical education to develop. We invite you to send us reports about statistical education research in other geographical areas to be included in the next issues. The recent loss of Efraim Fischbein is a sad new for both the scientific and human point of view. He was not just a scientist and a humanist, but a kind and caring person who was able to provide inspiration and encouragement for the work of many of us. In particular he was one of the founders of both the PME Group (Psychology of Mathematics Education) and this Study Group, in which he has been actively involved until very recently. We are including a note on his work, as a modest homage to his memory; however, the best honor we can do is trying to follow his example and developing his ideas in our future works. Rasimah is an associate professor in statistics at MARA Institute of Technology. Currently, she is teaching statistical theory, regression analysis and time series analysis, besides supervising research students. She is particularly interested in the development of classroom and other real-life activities to enhance the teaching of mathematical and statistical concepts. Her current projects include the study on the understanding of basic calculus concepts among first year statistics students and the use of technologies in the teaching of statistics.