Literature Index

Displaying 2921 - 2930 of 3326

  • The training of service teachers

    Author(s):
    Madsen, R. W.
    Editors:
    Grey, D. R., Holmes, P., Barnett, V., & Constable, G. M.
    Year:
    1983
    Abstract:
    It is a well-known fact that, at least in American colleges and universities, most professors are highly trained in the subject matter of their chosen discipline but receive little or no formal training in how to teach that subject matter. These professors (including most of us) have learned teaching by experience and from informal observation of our own professors when we were students. This is quite a contrast to the training received by elementary and secondary school teachers. We will discuss the "why" and "who" of the training of teachers and then turn our attention to the question of "when" and "how". To this end we will discuss what has been done in the Statistics Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia. We provide versions of handout given to them.

  • The training of statistics teachers for the primary grades

    Author(s):
    Pereira-Mendoza, L.
    Editors:
    Hawkins, A.
    Year:
    1990
    Abstract:
    In organising this conference the participants have been asked to focus on how to train statistics teachers, rather than the question of how to teach statistics.
    Location:
    RISE

  • THE TRANSITION FROM UNIVERSITY TO WORK: A CASE STUDY

    Author(s):
    OTTAVIANI, Maria Gabriella and RICCI, Roberto
    Year:
    2007
    Abstract:
    Teaching statistics to future statisticians should take into account both statistical knowledge and personal skills needed in the statisticians' professional life. Based on a questionnaire designed to assess competencies actually needed by statisticians in the workplace, this paper aims to detect if the competence framework helps to better understand the transition from university to work. With this objective, three metric profiles are proposed to locate knowledge, "relational skills" and actually performed activities, and graduate scores. The graduates in Statistical Sciences from "Sapienza" University of Rome from March 2000 to March 2001 were acquired as emblematic cases in Spring 2004. There were 146 respondents out of the total of 296 graduates in the time period. The Rasch analysis is applied to analyze the data and to build on the profiles. In particular the analysis was performed applying the Rasch family response models to polytomous items. The item parameters and the latent trait value for each respondent are estimated by the joint maximum likelihood method. The analysis results could be useful in order to design curricula for university degrees in Statistics that would make the university-workplace transition process easier.
    Location:
    http://www.swinburne.edu.au/lss/statistics/

  • The Transitivity Misconception of Pearson's Correlation Coefficient

    Author(s):
    Ana Elisa Castro Sotos, Stijn Vanhoof, Wim Van Den Noortgate, Patrick Onghena
    Year:
    2009
    Abstract:
    Despite the relevance of correlational studies for most research domains, many students, teachers, and researchers alike hold misconceptions concerning the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. One of these, the transitivity misconception, has not yet been documented in a systematic way. This paper summarizes the first empirical study, using 279 university students, and examines the relationship between student-based and task-based factors and the appearance of this misconception. In particular, two task-based factors seemed to have a significant effect on its appearance. In addition, the respondents' level of confidence in their answer to the transitivity item was significantly lower than for most other times.
    Location:
    http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/serj/SERJ8(2)_Sotos.htm

  • The Ultimate Flow

    Author(s):
    Andrews, C.
    Editors:
    Stephenson, W. R.
    Year:
    2005
    Abstract:
    The sport of Ultimate has grown from parking lot fun to international competition in its 35 year existence. As in many sports, the team that scores is subsequently on defense. Thus the probability that a team will score next is dependent on which team has scored most recently. Unlike in many other sports, teams switch ends after each score. Thus field conditions can affect the scoring patterns. The data and analyses described here can be integrated into a variety of courses ranging from introductory statistics to stochastic models.
    Location:
    http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v13n1/andrews.html

  • The Unrelenting Exchange Paradox

    Author(s):
    Ruma Falk
    Year:
    2008
    Abstract:
    An elusive probability paradox is analysed. The fallacy is traced back to improper use of a symbol that denotes at the same time a random variable and two different values that it may assume.
    Location:
    http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121376344/abstract

  • The upper bound on standard deviation as a function of range

    Author(s):
    Petocz, P.
    Editors:
    Goodall, G.
    Year:
    2005
    Abstract:
    In a recent paper in Teaching Statistics, Croucher (2004) discussed an upper bound on the standard deviation of a set of sample data in terms of the range of the data. He derived the result that for any three numbers the standard deviation can never exceed 1/sqrt(3) or 58% of the range. He also conjectured that the maximum value of standard deviation divided by range was a decreasing function of sample size. This conjecture can easily be shown to be incorrect since, for example, the maximum value of standard deviation divided by range in equal for samples of size 3 and 4. We prove a modified version of Croucher's conjecture, that the maximum value of standard deviation divided by range is a non-increasing function of sample size. Our derivation uses a simplified approach and analogous ideas of the physical meaning of standard deviation.<br><br>This article disproves a conjecture that the ratio of the maximum standard deviation to the range of a set of data decreases as the number of data points increases. It also provides an alternative and more general approach for examining the standard deviation as a function of the range.

  • The ups and downs of the hope function in a fruitless search

    Author(s):
    Falk, R., Lipson, A., &amp; Konold, C.
    Editors:
    Wright, G., &amp; Ayton, P.
    Year:
    1994
    Abstract:
    In order to investigate the nature of probabilistic reasoning, we devised two experimental problems, each of which involved two hope questions (long- and short-term). We will present the two standard problems along with the Bayesian solution. Then we will discuss a number of features of the solution by applying it to a variety of situations. After describing how our subjects reasoned about the standard problems, we will present a didactic device we developed to make the search problem more conducive to resolution. Finally, we will explore subjects' ability to transfer the lesson learned from the didactic device to the analogous wait problem.

  • The US-Japan lessons study collaboration reveals critical lenses for examining practice

    Author(s):
    Fernandez, C., Cannon, J., Chokshi, S.
    Year:
    2003
    Abstract:
    Strong claims have been made about the potential of lesson study, a Japanese form of professional development inwhich teachers collaboratively plan and examine actual lessons. We have explored these claims by asking a group of USteachers to engage in lesson study with the support of Japanese teachers. Our findings suggest that to benefit fromlesson study teachers will first need to learn how to apply critical lenses to their examination of lessons. We describethree such lenses (e.g. the researcher lens) and their role in making lesson study powerful. We also discuss theimplications of these findings for other professional development efforts in which teachers attempt to learn fromconcrete examplesof practice.

  • The use of a Multimedia Tool in Teaching Factor Analysis to Business School Students. Is there a Statistical Significant Improvement?

    Author(s):
    Dassonville, P. &amp; Hahn, C.
    Editors:
    Starkings, S.
    Year:
    2000
    Abstract:
    Teaching factor analysis to non scientific audience is not easy. These methods should be taught with rigor so that students develop the capacity of interpreting correctly the results of the statistical analysis. But it can not be taught in a too theoretical way because it would be rejected by students who often have a difficult relationship with mathematics (Dassonville et Hahn, 1999). Development of technology, especially multimedia, allowed to consider conception of new pedagogical tools that could improve learning (Legros, 1997). But we know that human mediation is an essential part of the process of knowledge construction (Tall, 1994; Linard, 1998). So, the question of the position of such tools in a pedagogical programme is still fundamental. It is why the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry supported a research project on learning Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The first step of this project was to create a multimedia tool (Dassonville, 1997). The second step was to evaluate the efficiency of the tool.<br><br>In our presentation, we will first say a few words about teaching of statistics in French Business schools. Then describe shortly the pedagogical programme we experimented at Ecole Sup&Egrave;rieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP), integrating the multimedia tool. Then we will present the main results of the evaluation of this tool's efficiency we conducted in 1998/99.
    Location:
    see Papers on Statistical Education from ICME-9 item #2834

Pages

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