I currently instruct Statistics adjunct. What I have found is one needs to spend a lot of time doing the following:
Rewrite or revise the content: A lot of Statistics books have <g class="gr_ gr_1246 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling multiReplace" id="1246" data-gr-id="1246">too</g> fluff and the important concepts are lost in the pages. Thus, the instructor has to create notes that are the "best" of multiple sources.
Present statistical information with visual connections between concepts: Too many stats books skip steps and do not adequately use visual diagrams to properly link ideas.
Do not instruct like everyone is a math major: A large part of what I do is make Statistics manageable for non-math majors. Unless the statistics class is a higher level course, students can become overwhelmed with the content when it is not brought down to earth.
Lastly,
students need to practice the types of questions they are first exposed to. The exams should have questions that are very similar to what they practiced.
Well, that is my thoughts on instructing Statistics.
------------------------------
Chris Ferbrache
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 01-14-2019 14:22
From: Michael Mout
Subject: How to Teach an Intro to Stats Class | Stats + Short Stories Episode 78 /January 10, 2019
One of the things I did when teaching an intro course, when the class size allowed, was to assign each student to collect data for each new concept.
For example, when for basic measures of central tendency and dispersion they could collect a sample of say 10-20 items (leafs, rocks, children's ages, car mileage,...) and then calculate the various measures and write a report on the results. This report would include potential bias, randomness or lack thereof, problems with measurements, and so forth.
This gave the students lessons in sampling and real world issues with statistical measures.
------------------------------
Michael Mout
MIKS
Original Message:
Sent: 01-11-2019 09:16
From: John Bailer
Subject: How to Teach an Intro to Stats Class | Stats + Short Stories Episode 78 /January 10, 2019
Mark Hansen (@cocteau), Professor of Journalism at Columbia University, joins the S+S team to talk about a narrative focus of an introductory statistics class. What can introductory statistics teachers learn from how journalism is taught? How is data analysis and statistics linked to a way of organizing reporting. To listen now, go directly to the episode or please visit
www.statsandstories.net , Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play or Soundcloud. Please forward information about S+S and S+SS to any of your colleagues or friends who might enjoy exploring the statistics behind the stories and the stories behind the statistics.
As always, comments and suggestions for future guests are welcome, and you are invited to Tweet and to post comments and program ratings on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher.
Thanks!
John Bailer (@john_bailer) for the Stats+Stories team (@statsandstories)