A Note to Instructors

The subject of statistics, like many things in life, is best learned throughactive participation.  Your students will better understand statistical concepts and be more able to apply them if they are actively engagedduring class.  These activities give you numerous options for teaching,reinforcing, and applying statistical understanding throughout a typicalfirst course in statistics.Teaching statistics presents the familiar challenge of covering too muchcontent in too little time.  It is often difficult to find time to do activitieswith a statistics class and still teach all the material you need to teach.Consider ways that you can incorporate activities into your currentapproach to teaching statistics without necessarily using more time.Perhaps you can start an activity in class and have students complete it ontheir own.  Perhaps you can replace a lecture with an activity that teachesthe same concepts.  Perhaps you can do an activity as a demonstration toreduce the time commitment.  The activities are designed to be flexible and support a variety of classroom uses.

Table of Contents

Activity Title (section number)

Chapter 1: Data Collection
NEW!  Building a Survey in StatCrunch
Introducing Statistics Through Quotes (1.1)
Categorizing Student Survey Data (1.1)
Comparing Sampling Methods (1.4)
Designing an Experiment (1.6)

Chapter 2: Organizing and Summarizing Data
Exploring Histograms with StatCrunch (2.2)
Sorting Histograms by Shape (2.2)
Predicting Distribution Shape (2.2)
Constructing and Comparing Graphical Representations (2.2-2.3)
Recognizing and Correcting Misleading Graphs (2.4)

Chapter 3: Numerically Summarizing Data
Understanding Measures of Center (3.1)
Comparing Statistics to Parameters (3.1-3.2)
Exploring Standard Deviation (3.2)
Understanding the Standard Deviation Formula (3.2)
Scaling and Shifting Data (3.4)
Matching Boxplots and Histograms (3.5)                                                          

Chapter 4: Describing the Relation between Two Variables
Exploring Properties of the Linear Correlation Coefficient (4.1)
Finding a Least-Squares Regression Line (4.2)
Examining the Relationship Between Arm Length and Height (4.2)
Minimizing the Sum of the Squared Residuals (4.2)
NEW!  What Does It Mean to “Regress to the Mean”? (4.2)
Understanding Influential Observations (4.3)
Investigating the Coefficient of Determination (4.3)

Chapter 5: Probability
Demonstrating the Law of Large Numbers (5.1)
Finding the Probability of Getting Heads (5.1)
Interpreting Conditional Probabilities (5.4)
NEW!  Let’s Make a Deal (5.4)
Calculating the Probability of Winning the Lottery (5.5)
Exploring the Duplicate Birthday Problem (5.6)
NEW!  Tennis Anyone? (5.6)

Chapter 6: Discrete Probability Distributions
Finding the Expected Value of a Game (6.1)
Exploring a Binomial Distribution from Multiple Perspectives (6.2)
Using Binomial Probabilities in Baseball (6.2)
Designing a Game (6.2)                                                                                        

Chapter 7: The Normal Probability Distribution
Constructing Probability Distributions Involving Dice (7.1)
NEW!  Fooled by Randomness (7.1)
NEW!  Home Run Distances (7.2)
Grading on a Curve (7.2)
Modeling with the Normal Distribution (7.2)
Analyzing Standardized Test Scores (7.2)
Playing Plinko (7.4)

Chapter 8: Sampling Distributions
Creating a Sampling Distribution for the Mean (8.1)
Analyzing the Variability in Sample Means (8.1)
NEW!  Describing the Distribution of the Sample Mean:  Approximately Normal Population (8.1)
Simulating IQ Scores (8.1)
Sampling from Normal and Non-Normal Populations (8.1)
Describing the Distribution of the Sample Mean: Non-Normal Data (8.1)
Creating a Sampling Distribution for a Proportion (8.2)
NEW!  Describing the Distribution of the Sample Proportion (8.2)
NEW!  Describing the Distribution of the Sample Proportion Using the Urn Applet (8.2)

Chapter 9: Estimating the Value of a Parameter
Exploring the Effects of Confidence Level, Sample Size, and Shape I (9.1)
Constructing a Confidence Interval with M&M’s (9.1)
Constructing a Confidence Interval for Average Temperature (9.2)
Exploring the Effects of Confidence Level, Sample Size, and Shape II (9.2)
Constructing a Confidence Interval from a Non-Normal Distribution (9.2)
Constructing a Confidence Interval for Die Rolls (9.2)
The Role of Sample Size in the Construction of Confidence Intervals (9.2)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (9.2)
Finding a Bootstrap Confidence Interval (9.5)

Chapter 10: Hypothesis Tests Regarding a Parameter
The Logic of Hypothesis Testing (10.1)
NEW!  Sensitivity and Specificity (10.1)
Interpreting P-Values (10.2)
Testing a Claim with Skittles I (10.2)
Understanding Type I Error Rates I (10.2)
Testing Cola Preferences (10.2)
Testing a Claim with Beads (10.2)
Analyzing a Research Article I (10.2)
Testing a Claim with Skittles II (10.3)
Understanding Type I Error Rates II (10.3)
Using Bootstrapping to Test a Claim (10.5)
Computing the Power of a Test (10.6)

Chapter 11: Inference on Two Population Parameters
Making an Inference about Two Proportions (11.1)
Analyzing Rates of Drug Side Effects (11.1)
Predicting Basketball Game Outcomes (11.1)
Considering the Effects of Grammar (11.1)
Analyzing Kissing Data (11.1)
Analyzing a Research Article II (11.1)
Comparing Arm Span and Height (11.2)
Comparing Rental Car Prices (11.2)
Using Randomization Test for Independent Means (11.3)
Comparing Bull and Bear Markets (11.3)
Differentiating Between Practical and Statistical Significance (11.3)

Chapter 12: Inference on Categorical Data
Performing a Goodness-of-Fit Test (12.1)
Testing for Homogeneity of Proportions (12.2)

Chapter 13: Comparing Three or More Means
Designing a Randomized Complete Block Design (13.3)
Performing a Two-Way ANOVA (13.4)                                                            

Chapter 14: Inference on the Least-Squares Regression Model and Multiple Regression
Testing the Significance of a Regression Model (14.1)
Using a Randomization Test for Correlation (14.1)

The subject of statistics, like many things in life, is best learned through active participation.  These activities have been designed to improve your study of statistics by helping you become a more active participant.  Whether you are collecting data, discussing concepts with fellow students, or manipulating an applet, you will need to be actively involved to get the most out of these activities.  The more you engage with the material, the more you will understand the concepts and the more able you will be to apply them in real life.

Even if your instructor does not assign these activities or use them in class, there are many that you can work through on your own to increase your understanding of statistical concepts.

If you are doing activities that utilize applets, either go to www.statcrunch.com, or www.pearsonhighered.com/sullivanstats to access the applet.