Fun

August 25, 2009 Activity webinar presented by Michelle Everson, University of Minnesota and hosted by Leigh Slauson, Capital University. In a classroom setting, students can engage in hands-on activities in order to better understand certain concepts and ideas. Replicating hands-on activities in an online environment, however, can be a challenge for instructors. The purpose of this webinar is to present an applet that was created to replicate a "Post-it Note" activity commonly used in classroom sections of an undergraduate introductory statistics course at University of Minnesota. The Post-it Note activity is meant to help students develop a more conceptual understanding of the mean and the median by moving a set of Post-it Notes along a number line. During the webinar, participants have an opportunity to see and experience just how online students are able to interact with an applet named the "Sticky Centers" applet, and the webinar presents the kinds of materials and assignments that have been created to use in conjunction with this applet. The webinar ends with a preview of a newer applet that is being developed in order to replicate the famous "Gummy Bears in Space" activity (presented in Schaeffer, Gnanadesikan, Watkins & Witmer, 1996). A supplemental student handout is available for download free of charge.

Every careful measurement in science is always given with the probable error... every observer admits that he is likely wrong, and knows about how much wrong he is likely to be. This is a quote by Welsh Mathematician and philosopher Bertrand A.W. Russell (1872 - 1970). The quote may be found in his 1931 book "The Scientific Outlook" and is also found on the science history website www.todayinsci.com

A highly trained mathematical statistician without knowledge of the subject can be quite as dangerous as a subject-matter specialist trying to use statistical methods of which he has little knowledge. This is a quote of American Economist and Statistician Aryness Joy Wickens (1901 - 1991). The quote is from her Presidential Address to the American Statistical Association at the 112th annual meeting on December 28, 1952. The full address is reprinted in "JASA" v. 48 p. 1-14. (picture from LIFE magazine; copyright by Time, Inc. for non-commercial use only)

In our society, if you love dogs, cats, or goldfish you're considered normal and even nice. Say a kind word for statistics and you're regarded as a little mad. This is a quote from Newsweek and Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson (1945 - ). The quote appears in a column titled "The Joy of Statistics" in "Newsweek" on November 4, 1985.