Workshop on Teaching Introductory Statistics Session 1 Continued: Planning A Conceptual Course Using Common Threads And Big Ideas Roger Woodard, North Carolina State University Ginger Holmes Rowell, Middle Tennessee State University Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee July 10 th, 2006

2 Thinking about the course  What are the big ideas?  What are the common threads? By identifying the main concepts we can help the students better understand statistics.

3 An activity  Break into groups of 3.  A short individual activity.  A group activity to combine the results.

1 What are big ideas?  Main ideas of the course  Ideas that we want the students to remember when they have forgotten everything else. A few key things to remember Reinforced multiple times  Keystones of statistical thinking

5 What are big ideas?  Illustrated and explained throughout the course. Variability is everywhere Correlation is not causation Data = model+error  In a univariate case y=+ε  In ANOVA y= ++ε  In regression y=+βx+ε

6 What are common threads?  Concepts that come back throughout the course. Students can see the connections throughout the course. Ideas that link many topics.

7 Concepts vs. Calculations  Conceptual course emphasizes why things work. Understand why the methods work. Understand the common threads.  Rote calculations Develop a list of formulas and plug in the numbers. Cover as many formulas as possible.

8 Probability  Rote Calculations Calculate the probability of the union of A and B. Calculate the conditional probability of A given B.

9 Probability  Concept What does probability mean? Flipping a fair coin has a 50% probability of landing heads up. What does this mean? Which is more likely? Flipping a coin 20 times and finding between 8 and 12 heads? Or flipping a coin 200 times and finding between 80 and 120 heads?

10 Concepts vs. Calculations  Conceptual Understanding Better interpretation the results. Better statistical thinking.  Rote calculations Students can do mindlessly. Easier for students and teachers. Easily forgotten.

11 In the next session:  Use concept maps to help clarify common threads.  Lunch until 1:00pm.