happy new year and welcome to… “Setting the Tone from Day 1” CAUSEweb Activity Webinar January 24, 2012 based on Lesser/Kephart paper in Nov J. of Statistics Education (partial support from NSF DUE ) Dr. Larry Lesser, Professor The University of Texas at El Paso

instructional cycle* Lesser & Kephart (2011) Problem is presented Initial Individual Reflection Small Group (3-4 students each) discussion Whole Class Discussion (with instructor as facilitator and co-learner) optional: further individual reflection * variation on “think-pair-share” or “1-2-4-whole group” structures

a good problem… Has context relevant to student backgrounds Has minimal (math) prerequisites Is efficient to pose Is efficient to compute (e.g., simple numbers; Lesser, 2011) Will be revisited/deepened later in course Is open to multiple approaches, representations, interpretations Stimulates habits of mind/questioning Shows statistics as “numbers with a context” May reveal a misconception

For the following problems… Try it yourself Try it as you imagine your students might Consider what assumptions are being (perhaps implicitly) made Try generating multiple approaches Reflect upon any big picture lessons or themes about taking/doing statistics this problem raises

Who did better, Amy or Bob? (Lesser 2001, 2011) fall spring TESTSAmyBobAmyBob passed failed taken

“Average Class Size” Exploration (Lesser, 2009, 2010a) 185 students are divided among 7 rooms as: 20, 20, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 35. What would you say is the ‘average class size’? simpler substitute dataset: 20 students divided among 4 rooms as: 3, 3, 4, and 10

Which of these 5 countries did best at the 2008 Summer Olympics? (Isaacson, 2011) NationGoldSilverBronze Australia Bahamas China United States Zimbabwe 1 3 0

How to adapt for: Shorter periods Larger classes Other days of the course Other courses