2015 US Conference on Teaching Statistics “Fun in Statistics Class: A Vehicle for Students to Make Connections” D. K. Pearl Penn State University J. Weber Georgia Perimeter College L. Lesser The University of Texas at El Paso Supported in part by Project UPLIFT: Universal Portability of Learning Increased by Fun Teaching NSF/EHR/DUE (PSU), (UTEP), (GPC)

Background conceptualizations of fun 20+ modalities of fun listed fun connects (or disconnects) with appropriate pedagogy sources of statistics fun (e.g., see Lesser et al. in March 2013 J. of Statistics Education [Note: on these slides blue titles means we are talking, red titles means you are talking]

What Makes a Fun Item Good For Teaching? Strong connections to learning objectives Minimizes hesitations and supports motivations for instructors Embedded in active and engaging pedagogy Efficiency in use of time

What learning objectives could be taught with these cartoons? by Randall Munroe (see xkcd.com) by John Landers

Let’s develop a new Cartoon Artist: John Landers (

What are your motivations in using fun in your classroom?

Instructors’ Motivations Lesser, et. al. (2013).

What are your hesitations in using fun in your classroom?

Instructors’ Hesitations Lesser, et. al. (2013).

What are the risks and rewards for instructors in using songs?

when used? as students enter, as you return papers, etc. who sings? (you, musical student, class, MP3) use of lyrics? (projected, fill-in blanks) who writes? (you, students, CAUSEweb) how long? (10 seconds - 4 minutes) how assessed? Using songs effectively at your comfort Level

Rank the following by how engaging they might be for students Ask students to write a statistical caption to a cartoon for extra credit Tell a statistical joke in class Ask students to work a statistical “jumble” or crossword puzzle as homework Ask students to listen and sing along with a song posted on course website Invite a few students to the front of the room to take part in a magic trick Ask students to write a Haiku on a statistical topic for extra credit Have a cartoon posted on your course website

Checking back in with John Landers

Project UPLIFT: three urban settings Two-Year CollegeUniversity (medium-size)University (large) Region of U.S.SoutheastSouthwestMidwest Student population mostly Blackmostly Hispanicgeneral U.S. demographic Type of courseStatistical literacy Main audienceGeneral educationPre-service teachersArts and humanities TextSullivan’s Fundamentals of Statistics: Informed Decisions Using Data Utts’ Seeing Through Statistics Moore & Notz’s Statistics: Concepts & Controversies Learning management system Desire2LearnBlackboardDesire2Learn

Fall 2013 student-randomized experiment 53 from 2-year college; 194 from medium-sized university All students asked to take pre-tests: SATS (Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics), SAM (Statistics Anxiety Measure) Half of the students randomized to have “fun inserts” in content readings accessed via Learning Management System All students take midterms/finals with embedded multiple- choice items related to the (12-14) content readings All students asked to take post SATS & SAM

“It’s a Sign: A Connection between Correlation and Slope” (students randomly assigned to include the blue box)

% Correct with and without (Song) Inserts TopicActiveness Rating Without song, n = 88 With Song, n = 80 Difference Margin of error: down with n down by √n High 57.3% 9.1% 61.3% 10.0% 4.0% 0.9% Standard scoreHigh62.5%75.0%12.5% Correlation/slopeHigh60.2%73.8%13.6% Equiprobability biasHigh40.9%50.0%9.1% Multiplicity (medium university) High36.1%37.0%0.9% p-value (2-yr. college) High44.4%50.0%5.6% OVERALL42.3%50.0%7.7% 90% CI on total difference (1.4%, 14.0%) p-value ≈ 0.043

Post Course SAM and Subscale Results Measure/ Subscale Control n = 59 (avg  se) Fun n = 53 (avg  se) Difference (lower values are better) Anxiety8.32 ± ± 0.45  0.79 Attitude Towards Class 7.17 ± ± 0.28  0.77 Fearful Behavior ± ± 0.46  0.22 Attitude Towards Math ± ± 0.64  0.21 Performance9.80 ± ± SAM total50.61 ± ± 1.71  1.53

Other Findings Little/no change in Student Attitudes between experimental and control groups Significant Correlation between “Effectiveness” and “Activeness” for non-song items

Tips for Using Fun in Teaching Statistics:

Considerations for classroom use of fun Lesser and Pearl (2008 JSE) Course goal or statistical concept associated with the item Where used (e.g., in class, on website) What to do/say/ask before using the fun item to “set it up” What to do/say/ask after using the fun item

let’s illustrate using this cartoon by John Landers

let’s illustrate using the song “Mean”

Checking back in with John Landers

Modeling the Use of Fun: Participant groups share their developed item.

Key References STATISTICS FUN: Lesser, L. M.; Wall, A.; Carver, R.; Pearl, D. K.; Martin, N.; Kuiper, S.; Posner, M. A.; Erickson, P.; Liao, S.-M.; Albert, J., & Weber, J. J. (2013). Using fun in the statistics classroom: An exploratory study of college instructors’ hesitations and motivations. Journal of Statistics Education, 21(1), Lesser, L. & Pearl, D. (2008). Functional fun in statistics teaching: Resources, research, and recommendations. Journal of Statistics Education, 16(3), Lesser, L.; Pearl, D.; Reyes, R.; & Weber, J. (2014, May 20) “Bridging the Disciplines with Fun: Resources and research”, competitively-selected breakout session for second Electronic Conference on Teaching Statistics (eCOTS) AN INSPIRATION FOR THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Garner, R. L. (2006). Humor in pedagogy: How ha-ha can lead to aha! College Teaching, 54(1), INSTRUMENT: Earp, M.A. (2007). Development and validation of the Statistics Anxiety Measure. University of Denver. web.org/documents/dissertations/07.Earp.Dissertation.pdfhttp://iase- web.org/documents/dissertations/07.Earp.Dissertation.pdf

QUESTIONS? Dennis Pearl: Larry Lesser: John Weber: THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST! Please join us for Birds of a Feather discussion on Study of Fun during lunch on Saturday in room 113