Teaching Introductory Statistics with a Sports Emphasis


Authors: 
Jim Albert
Volume: 
2(2)
Pages: 
online
Year: 
2007
Publisher: 
causeweb.org
URL: 
http://www.causeweb.org/webinar/2007-02/
Abstract: 

An introductory statistics course is described that is entirely taught from a baseball perspective. This class has been taught as a special section of the basic introductory course offered at Bowling Green State University . Topics in data analysis are communicated using current and historical baseball datasets. Probability is introduced by describing and playing tabletop baseball games. Inference is taught by distinguishing between a player's "ability" and his "performance", and then describing how one can learn about a player's ability based on his season performance. Baseball issues such as the proper interpretation of situational and "streaky" data are used to illustrate statistical inference.

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

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