By putting emphasis on applications in two basic statistics courses for chemistry students and chemical engineering students we have enhanced student motivation and increased student activity. In addition to a traditional in-class exam, the students complete a take-home project where statistical problems relevant to chemists are discussed. We give several examples of the course and project material. The main difference between the two courses is that the first is optional, attracting approximately 15 students, while the second is compulsory with approximately 100 students. We discuss how the different requirements affect the learning situation and how separate strategies of teaching have to be developed for the small class and large class situations, respectively.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education