Workshop on Teaching Introductory Statistics Session 2a: Making the Class Interactive with Activities Roger Woodard, North Carolina State University Ginger Holmes Rowell, Middle Tennessee State University Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee July 10 th, 2006

2 What are we working towards?  Groups will create an activity for class.  Groups will decide how to implement it into the classroom.  Groups will create a detailed lesson plan explaining how it will be used.  Groups will do a 15 minute presentation of their activity on Thursday

3 Lecture vs. Activities  Lecture transfers large amount of information quickly. Can be easily tuned out. Students’ attention spans.  About 15 minutes, declining to about 8.  Incorporate a mix of techniques. Include Activities that get the students involved.

4 Example:  One of the important topics: Sampling distributions. Want the students to understand how different samples produce different statistics. What them to get involved.

5 Example:  In this activity you will play the role of students. Break up into groups of 3. Take out a total of 30 coins of any denomination.

6 An Applet  m/sampling_dist/index.html m/sampling_dist/index.html

7 Summary  A sample mean from a sample of N= ___ is less varied than the Parent Population but more varied than sample mean from a sample of N = ___.  Even if a parent population’s distribution is _________ the distribution of the sample mean is _______ and becomes more so as the sample size _________.

8 Summary  A sample mean from a sample of N = 10 is less varied than the Parent Population but more varied than sample mean from a sample of N = 25.  Even if a parent population’s distribution is skewed the distribution of the sample mean is symmetric and becomes more so as the sample size increases.

9 Sampling Distribution Demo  Students become very involved.  The idea of a parent population is discussed.  The idea of repeated sampling and the distribution of a statistic is illustrated.  Ideas are generalized with the applet.

10 Sampling Distribution Demo  The concept is difficult for many learners.  Applet is difficult for students who do not have a connection.  Combining the demo and the applet makes a more concrete connection.

11 Planning your activity.  You will create an activity to teach a concept.  As a group decide on which of the concepts you want to highlight.  Be prepared to report back to the class.