Lawrence (Larry) Lesser (The University of Texas at El Paso)
Abstract
Want a novel and efficient way to engage intro statistics students, especially non-majors? This highly-interactive, fun session offers basic workshop/class-tested experiences and guidance on how/when you and your students can use/create statistical poems or (parody) lyrics to help humanize a course and enhance student learning, motivation, and classroom community in a way that's integrated with learning objectives, not an "add-on". You'll become "well-versed" in how using poetry/lyrics can support recall, confront misconceptions, introduce concepts, explore processes, and make real-world connections. No special talent, experience, or music knowledge needed – just curiosity and openness – to readily find connections within the palette of possibilities, from short mnemonic verse/jingle to more open-ended intriguing art! With lyrics and poems, we’ll overview (and note tradeoffs of) various forms (starting with the simplest) and explore examples how statistics concepts can be the work’s subject or inform imagery or form. We’ll share parallels in encountering poems/lyrics or datasets, and share how to integrate examples into lecture or implement poetry/lyric projects. We'll discuss a "useful model" to choose/use existing examples (e.g., from CAUSEweb.org/fun), as well as enjoy no-pressure exercises throughout. You’ll experience open-access web-based resources (e.g., rhymezone.com) to support creating lyrics/poems so bring a device to access the Internet from your Iowa State guest account. The facilitator has given related workshops (eCOTS; MoMath), published 100+ STEM lyrics and 100+ STEM poems, and had related scholarship (e.g., 2025 paper in Teaching Statistics) and NSF grants. Hey, the workshop title and the presenter name (Professor Lesser) each use rhyme!