Category: Classroom Strategy

Learning Cataltyics

Posted sullystatsLeave a commentPosted in Classroom Strategy

George Woodbury (@georgewoodbury) and I have written a Learning Catalytics course to accompany Interactive Statistics 2/e.  I started classes this week and immediately started using the program in my flipped class.  The level of engagement from my students is enormous and peer-to-peer instruction is taking place.  This has increased the level of understanding of my students and created a dynamic classroom.   I asked my students whether they prefer lecture or Learning Catalytics and they all replied “Learning Catalytics”! If you would like a copy of our course, please email me (sullystats@gmail.com) or George (cosmath21@yahoo.com).

The General’s Dilemma

Posted sullystatsLeave a commentPosted in Classroom Strategy

Today I am going to do “The General’s Dilemma” activity in my Intro Stats class.  I am teaching completely randomized designs, so this is a great opportunity to illustrate the methodology behind this experimental design with this activity.  This data will be used to introduce the inferential methods of comparing two independent proportions using randomization methods.  Feel free to use this in your classes.   Activity – The General’s Dilemma    The following two questions are called the first and second versions of the General’s Dilemma.  The questions were written by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.   Version I:  Threatened by a superior enemy force, the general faces a dilemma.  […]

New York Times Monthly Stats Feature

Posted sullystatsLeave a commentPosted in Classroom Strategy

The American Statistical Association has partnered with the New York Times Learning Network to promote student understanding of graphs.  The goal of the feature to help students understand and think critically about graphs.  The feature will be called What’s Going on in this Graph? Here is a link to the announcement: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/06/learning/announcing-a-new-monthly-feature-whats-going-on-in-this-graph.html The feature will be published starting September 19 and continuing the second Tuesday of the following months (October 10, November 14, and so on) through the end of the school year in May. Leaders in statistical education will lead discussions on the date of the release from 9 am-2 pm around the following questions: *   What do you notice? *   What do you wonder? * […]

Quartiles and Boxplots

Posted sullystatsLeave a commentPosted in Classroom Strategy, Data Set

I just finished teaching Chapter 3 of my text today.  To introduce the idea of quartiles and boxplots, I used two data sets.  The first is from the PayScale ROI Report.  The data set includes annual return on investment, total four year cost, graduation rate, and other variables for all colleges and universities throughout the country.  The data is available at http://www.payscale.com/college-roi I also uploaded the data to StatCrunch.  Search for “PayScale_ROI_2017” under Explore > Data. I used the ROI data to find quartiles, identify outliers (very interesting), and draw boxplots.  By selecting this data, I was able to discuss one of the many factors a student should consider in […]

First Week of Classes

Posted sullystatsLeave a commentPosted in Classroom Strategy

Classes have already started here at Joliet Junior College.  Last week we had our opening session.  The speaker at the session was Valencia Community College’s president, Sandy Shugart.  He is a very talented speaker and I took many lessons away from his session.  However, there was one point he made that hit me more than any of the others. President Shugart pointed out that our craft is one where we get a “do-over” every semester.  Think about that.  Most of your students this semester will be meeting you for the first time. In addition, this may be their first exposure to the material you have been teaching for many years. […]

Introduction to Hypothesis Tests on a Population Proportion

Posted sullystatsLeave a commentPosted in Classroom Strategy

One of the most difficult concepts for students to grasp is that of a P-value.  The video below was recorded in my Introductory Statistics class at Joliet Junior College.   To introduce my students to P-values, I simulate drawing many (5000) samples from a population built based on the statement in the null hypothesis (this is called the null model).   From the simulation, students determine the relative frequency with which a sample statistic as extreme or more extreme is observed (based on selecting from a population that assumes the proportion of individuals in the population that have the characteristic is some value). We then compare the simulated result to […]

Co-Requisite Remediation

Posted sullystatsLeave a commentPosted in Classroom Strategy, Research Article

Here is an interesting study completed within the City University of New York system on co-requisite remediation. They compared three groups using a randomized trial – Elementary Algebra students, Elementary Algebra with Supplemental Instruction, Elementary Statistics with Supplemental Instruction.  The 721 participants were randomly assigned to one of those three groups.  Guess what?  The pass rates for the courses were as follows: Elementary Algebra:  39% Elementary Algebra with SI: 45% Statistics with SI: 56% Read about the study here. The Sullivan Statistics series offers an Introductory Statistics text with Integrated Review.  The Integrated Review content is based on Sullivan’s popular Developmental Mathematics series.