Teaching

  • Different kinds of data are used in teaching statistics. In applied statistics courses we usually use real life data related to the main subject matter of our students. Such data are interesting for students and motivate final interpretation of statistical results. For demonstration of statistical concepts, computer simulated data with known statistical properties can be used. The advantage of such data is that results of analysis can be compared with known and pre-defined properties of data. Many important statistical concepts and procedures can be obviously shown with computer simulations and dynamic graphics. Such simulations can sometimes be more convincing than proofs and are appreciated by students.

  • Designing and conducting experiments is an important aspect of engineering practice, with applications in both product and process design/development and manufacturing. This presentation focuses on the essential topics for an experimental design course and offers advice based on 30 years of experience in how to structure such a course so that is meaningful to an engineering-oriented audience. Some experiences from the course offered by the presenter at ASU are given.

  • Simulating quickly a large number of repetitions of an experiment is a powerful tool in statistics. Simulations can be performed and explored individually by students in the classroom with graphics calculators like the TI83(Plus). Applications are estimating the probability of an event, predicting the profit in a game of chance, approximating the probability distribution of a random variable, drawing samples from a population, testing the quality of the random number generator. These applications will be illustrated with examples.

  • Statistical reasoning is often presented as a variety of problems that are explained through a series of "tests" - usually leaving many students bewildered. One of the key elements that is missing from such treatment is building a foundation for understanding what statistical reasoning is and how it works. Simulations, made possible by technology such as graphing calculators, can provide students a conceptual basis for inference. Generating sampling distributions can help them analyze the behavior of a given statistic, explore whether a given observation is unlikely, investigate how changing sample size changes the distribution, explore different kinds of distributions and what makes them different, and give them a sense of how to reason from data. Examples from the world outside of the classroom illustrate how simulation can be a tool in making sensible decisions and give students opportunities to see why statistics is important.

  • Drawing from web-based materials previously developed to supplement on-campus sections of an introductory statistics course for graduate students in education, the author started offering an on-line virtual class in the fall of 2001. The course, designed for doctoral students already participating in a program making extensive use of web-based materials, relied on students working independently with the on-line material (that included course lectures and notes) supported by access to the instructor using e-mail and the telephone. End of course performance was lower and much more variable than had been expected. Many students expressed the need for much more organization and contact with the instructor. Comparisons are made with reports of more successful virtual courses suggesting the need for a much greater degree of instructor supplied organization and direction.

  • Teaching probabilities to preschoolers is a very important task as daily decision making is based on probabilities. Although all children are well acquainted with probabilistic terms very few discussions are held in their classrooms because most of the preschool teachers are not prepared to teach probabilities. This study presents a way of teaching probabilities using Internet games and the constructivism theory.

  • This paper will report about the realisation and use of St@tNet, an interactive internet course on introductory statistics. St@tNet has been realised by a consortium of several French-speaking universities for distance education purposes. After a survey of the resources provided by Internet for teaching statistics, and especially of similar courses, we will present the product and its current use.

  • Ever since 1985, the Department of Statistics at Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore, Pakistan has been engaged in a large number of projects and programmes aimed at the improvement of statistical education in the country. These include (a) statistical competitions for students, (b) statistical exhibitions, and (c) workshops for lecturers and assistant professors working in various intermediate and degree colleges of Pakistan (Habibullah, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2001). The year 1997 witnessed the very first efforts of the Kinnaird College Statistics Department to expand the statistical competition to the worldwide community of students/young adults (Habibullah, 1999). The competition entitled "Data Analysis Talent Award (DATA)" invites students to indulge in projects involving collection and analysis of real-life data, and to write comprehensive reports regarding their projects.

  • There are many ways of teaching students to use statistics and all of these methods have their own relative advantages and disadvantages. The use of projects to enhance learning is one of the most effective methods to use. Students during the project duration need appropriate support for the maximum benefit, from the project, to be obtained. Many countries have successfully implemented statistical project work into their education programmes. The experience gained by students and the teachers, involved with the projects, has been of enormous benefit to the statistical education in these countries. Examples of how statistical projects that have been implemented are to be elucidated. Statistics lends itself to the practical aspects of life and enables students to come into contact with real data, often for the first time in their studies. This data can be usefully employed to engage the students in meaningful debate about, for example, the environment and what statistics should be used to emphasise the salient points being made. Project work brings together many facets of education, statistics being one of them.

  • We describe our project to develop curricular materials for a course that introduces students at the post-calculus level to statistical concepts, methods, and theory. This course provides a more balanced introduction to the discipline of statistics than the standard sequence in probability and mathematical statistics. The materials incorporate many features of successful statistics education projects that target less mathematically prepared students. The student audiences targeted by this project are particularly important because they have been overlooked by previous curricular reform projects. Most importantly, the proposed audience includes prospective teachers of statistics, introducing them to content and pedagogy that prepare them for implementing NCTM Standards with regard to statistics and probability and for teaching the Advanced Placement course in Statistics.

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