Nathan Tintle (University of Illinois)
Abstract
The practice of biology has transitioned over the last two decades to become increasingly reliant on quantitative approaches to drawing conclusions from data. As a result, an introduction to both descriptive and inferential statistical thinking is now standard practice for the undergraduate biology course (Bio 101) and statistics courses targeted to biology students (biostatistics). Through the Statistical Thinking in Undergraduate Biology (STUB) network we have generated open-access educational resources (active learning modules) that work with freely available, stand-alone web applets to provide a comprehensive, modern, active approach to learning statistics. Furthermore, we have held workshops to discuss active learning strategies, piloted innovative co-teaching approaches and led assessment initiatives. In this session, we will discuss these initiatives and challenge participants to think of concrete ways to take action to improve the teaching of statistics for the modern biology student at their institution.