eCOTS 2014 - Virtual Poster #21

"TIGERSTATS (Teach It Gently: Elementary R and STATisticS)"
Rebekah Robinson & Homer White, Georgetown College

Abstract

The TIGERSTATS Project at Georgetown College aims to enable computationally-challenged mathematics professors to teach statistics at the elementary level to students of average ability successfully and with zest, using the powerful open-source programming environment known as R. Inspired by and building upon the work of Project Mosaic (mosaic-web.org), we offer the following tools for instructors and students:

  • the R contributed package "tigerstats" (current version available on GitHub at github.com/homerhanumat/tigerstats), which in conjunction with package "mosaic" provides a simplified interface to the R programming environment and a large suite of engaging instructional apps;
  • a website with links to course materials (text-under-development, slide presentations, video lectures);
    rainandrhino.org
  • a blog site, with special focus on technical issues, for colleagues who wish to modify the TIGERSTATS approach for their own institutions, and to improve upon it.
    statistics.rainandrhino.org

Materials

Recording

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Comments

Nicholas Horton:

I'm biased based on my involvement with Project MOSAIC, but I think that Robinson and White are onto something interesting and innovative here. We need to get students computing, but we need to minimize the cognitive load. Leaving the flow-control constructs to another course is a good approach to consider. Thanks for all of the great links in your slides! @askdrstats

Homer White:

Thanks for the kind words, Nick. Of course the tigerstats approach uses mosaic, but does not avail itself of mosaic's great simulation functions (e.g., do()). Folsk who want to teach with R and with a randomization approach along the lines suggested by Tintle and Chance in their Worskhop (https://www.causeweb.org/ecots/workshop/5.php) might find tigerstats useful.

By the way, thanks for another great mosaic workshop earlier today!

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