Resource Library

Amidst the strange vicissitudes of life, 'tis likely, most unlikely things should happen is a quote by Greek poet Agathon (448-400 BC). The quote is mentioned in Aristotle's (384 - 322 BC) book "Rhetoric". This version of the quote is found on page 357 of the 1823 "A New Translation of Aristotle's Rhetoric" by John Gillies.

In this video (which lasts almost 20 minutes), statistics guru Hans Rosling debunks myths about the so-called "developing world."

In this video (which lasts a little over 21 minutes), Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly reveals the common mistakes humans make in interpreting statistics -- and the devastating impact these errors can have on the outcome of criminal trials.

March 23, 2010 Activity webinar presented by John Gabrosek & Paul Stephenson, Grand Valley State University and hosted by Leigh Slauson, Capital University. GOLO is a dice-based golf game that simulates playing a round of golf. GOLO can be used to illustrate basic probability concepts, descriptive summaries for data, discrete probability distributions, order statistics, and game theory. Participants had a chance to play the online version of GOLO.

April 27, 2010 Activity webinar presented by Shonda Kuiper, Grinnell College, and hosted by Leigh Slauson, Capital University. Educational games have had varied success in the past. However, what it means to incorporate games into the classroom has changed dramatically in the last 10 years. The goals of these games are to 1) foster a sense of engagement, 2) have a low threat of failure, 3) allow instructors to create simplified models of the world around us, and 4) motivate students to learn. This webinar uses the same reaction time game to demonstrate a simple 1- 2 day activity that is appropriate for introductory courses as well as an advanced project that encourages students to experience data analysis as it is actually practiced in multiple disciplines. In the introductory activity students are asked to spend 15 minutes playing an on-line game. Data collected from the game is used to demonstrate the importance of proper data collection and appropriate statistical analysis. The advanced project asks students to read primary literature, plan and carry out game based experiments, and present their results.

The true method of knowledge is experiment. This is a quote of British poet and artist William Blake (1857 - 1827). The quote is found in his 1788 book "All religions are one".

This short article begins with a brief explanation of 3D barcodes (what they are and how they are used), and then provides an argument for why statistics should be studied and how statistics is a part of everyday life. Several links are shared for other resources related to teaching and learning statistics, in addition to a link to a career options in statistics.

November 18, 2008 Teaching and Learning webinar presented by Xiao-Li Meng, Harvard University and hosted by Jackie Miller, The Ohio State University. Statistics 105 is a team-designed course that has received local media attention (e.g., www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/02.14/11-stats.html). Its course description promises the following: Discover an appreciation of statistical principles and reasoning via "Real-Life Modules" that can make you rich or poor (financial investments), loved or lonely (on-line dating), healthy or ill (clinical trials), satisfied or frustrated (chocolate/wine tasting) and more. Guaranteed to bring happiness (or misery) both to students who have never taken a previous statistics course, and to those who have taken statistics and want to see how statistical thinking applies to so many areas of life. This webinar reveals its history, pedagogical motivation, innovations, and challenges along the way

January 13, 2009 Teaching and Learning webinar presented by Jo Hardin, Pomona College and hosted by Jackie Miller, The Ohio State University. This webinar discusses the development and teaching of a freshman seminar course. In this course, students investigate the practical, ethical, and philosophical issues raised by the use of statistics and probabilistic thinking in realms such as politics, medicine, sports, the law, and genetics. Students explore issues from fiction, the mainstream media, and scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals. To do all of this, they must consider a wide range of statistical topics as well as encountering a range of uses and abuses of statistics in the world today.

webinar illustrates how personal response systems (clickers) can be used to address the realization of these three recommendations in large lecture classes (over 70 students). The session discusses general issues of the implementation of clickers and then provides an example of each of the following three uses of clickers in the classroom: 1) questions designed to highlight common conceptual misunderstandings in statistics, 2) questions designed as review questions for topics already addressed, and 3) questions that were part of a class activity to help students learn a concept.