Diversity, Belonging, and Introductory Statistics

Information

My Introductory Statistics students start each week with a group activity that builds on their prior knowledge and introduces a new topic. As students complete the activity in their groups, I troubleshoot student difficulties, pose questions, check student understanding, and encourage group discussions. Near the end of class, I lead a full-class discussion of key points from the activity. The remaining weekly assignments – both group and individual – build on the content in the introductory activity to provide students with a complete treatment of the topic. In this presentation, I will discuss the introductory activity “Diversity in Professional Sports.” This activity has three main goals: 1. To introduce students to descriptive statistics for two proportions, 2. To bring awareness to the lack of diversity, especially in leadership roles, in professional sports (and other professions), and 3. To increases students’ sense of belonging in the classroom. I will describe ways in which the activity meets these goals and discuss student responses to the activity.