CAUSE and CAUSEweb: Resources for Teachers of Statistics

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CAUSE and CAUSEwebResources for Teachers of
Statistics
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• Roger Woodard

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Resources for teachers

• Make statistics classes better
• Build student interest
• Encourage more students to go to graduate school
  in statistics

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What is CAUSE?

• Consortium for the
• Advancement of
• Undergraduate
• Statistics
• Education

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What is CAUSE?

• Outgrowth of a strategic initiative by the
  American Statistical Association (ASA)
• Over 40 individuals
• From dozens of institutions
• Key developers in statistics education

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Teachers of Statistics?
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Why is it needed?

• Many individuals are isolated
• Not in a statistics department
• Possibly not trained in statistics
• Mathematicians, sociologists, psychologists,
  engineers, etc.
• Instructors, graduate students, new faculty
• Not connected to current statistics teaching

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What is CAUSE?

• Goals
• Provide resources for teachers of statistics
• Facilitate professional development of statistics
  teachers
• Support research in statistics education

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www.CAUSEweb.org

• Single point of contact
• For anyone who teaches statistics
• Provides access to online resources
• address all three goals
• Funded through NSF
• National Science Digital Library

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What we provide

• CAUSEweb indexes materials for teaching
  statistics
• Searchable database
• Browse-able
• Meta-tagged gtadded information

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Browse Categories

• Lecture Examples Lesson modules for lecturers
• Laboratories Computer and hands-on activities
• Out-of-class Homework, projects, and distance
  learning materials
• Teaching Tips Classroom pedagogy and logistics

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Browse Categories

• Datasets Data and how to use it
• Analysis Tools Software and on-line tools
• Curriculum Syllabus issues and sources of
  statistics content
• Fun Cartoons and jokes for instructional use
• Building Blocks Unattached components for
  modular use
• Multimedia Video, sound, and animations

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Browsing by Topic

• Data and Data Collection
• Data Presentation
• Statistical Inference
• Probability

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Searchable

• Tags for
• Application area
• Statistical topic
• Audience
• Mathematical level
• User role

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Why not Google?
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• Can I just Google what I want to know?
• Google searches the whole Internet
• May get materials on things other than
  statistical topics
• No indication of quality
• CAUSEweb
• Indexes and annotatesgtless time searching

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Google vs. CAUSEweb?
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• Search for outliers
• In CAUSEweb you find a couple of applets, a
  couple of Against All Odds video segments, some
  examples and some class notes
• In Google much the samegtyou find some applets,
  some examples, several blogs and

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Reviewed Materials Why?

• Goal of reviewed materials
• Identify items of quality
• Educate users on criteria for use
• Add value
• Conducted by Editorial board
• Strong teaching experiences

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What is in a Review

• Overview Help user decide if item should be
  considered for use
• Type of material
• Subject matter
• Features
• Learning goals
• Technical requirements
• Target audience

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Ratings on three categories

• Quality of content
• Factually correct?
• Encourage appropriate statistical practice?
• Potential effectiveness for teaching and learning
• Fit into standard course? Promote good learning
  strategies?
• Ease of use
• Clear instructions? Convenient?

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Lake Michigan?
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Internet Content
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• Many students in a class used information from
  this site

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Internet Content
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• Many students in a class used information from
  this site
• Problem There are NO whales in Lake Michigan

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Internet Content
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• Many students in a class used information from
  this site
• Problem There are NO whales in Lake Michigan
• What about Statistics?
• Recent reviewgt Regression Appletgt Very slick
  and pretty!

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Internet Content
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• Many students in a class used information from
  this site
• Problem There are NO whales in Lake Michigan
• What about Statistics?
• Recent reviewgt Regression Appletgt Very slick
  and pretty!
• Problem Slope is correct, intercept is wrong

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Unique Content
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• Repository of materials that are unique
• Cartoon Collection
• STAR Library- ready made activities
• Documents- supporting teaching

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Jokes?
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What about the login?

• Not needed to search or view materials
• Allows submission of materials
• Allows posting to discussion forums
• Allows saving of searches

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Other things on CAUSEweb

• Support for research in teaching statistics
• Searchable index of papers on statistics teaching
• Support for professional development

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Workshops Offered

• Multi-day training by experts
• Introductory statistics instructors
• Mathematics Education faculty who teach
  pre-service K-12 teachers
• Developers of undergraduate programs such as
  majors, minors, and concentrations

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Web Seminars (Webinars)

• Monthly online seminars on statistical teaching.
• Upcoming Writing and Data Analysis projects for
  Introductory Statistics
• By John Holcomb
• Archived for later viewing

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United States Conference on Teaching Statistics

• Hosted by CAUSE
• Location Columbus Ohio
• 2005 Over 300 attendees
• Another conference in 2007

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Undergraduate projects

• Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition
  (USPROC)
• Individuals or groups of 3
• Statistical applications using real data
• Cash prizes
• Present at USCOTS

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Suggested Resources

• Star Library
• Ready to use materials by expert instructors
• Includes learning objectives, materials needed,
  time involved, student documents etc.

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Suggested Resources

• ARTIST
• Assessment Resource Tools Improving Statistical
  Thinking
• Assessment builder includes a data bank of
  questions that get at statistics understanding
• Information on other methods of assessment

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Suggested Resources

• Against All Odds
• Video Series produced by Annenberg CPB
• Content developed by David Moore
• Covers most topics in introductory statistics
• Free online
• Login required
• Detailed breakdown of content is given on CAUSEweb

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GAISE

• Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in
  Statistics Education
• Suggestions for teaching statistics

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JSE

• Data Archive
• Data sets and stories
• Put data into the classroom

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Software?
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Suggested Resources

• StatCrunch
• Java-based online program
• Does not need installation on a machine
• Provides all statistical features seen in most
  typical introductory statistics courses
• Menu driven and easy to use

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Lets Try It.

• Open Statcrunch
• http//statcrunch.stat.ncsu.edu
• Log in

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Open some data

• Click My Data
• Click NBA.xls

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Make some summaries

• Histogram of weight
• Histogram of height
• Pie chart of position

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Open some data

• http//www4.stat.ncsu.edu/woodard/survey.xls

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Open some data

• http//www4.stat.ncsu.edu/woodard/survey.xls
• Calculate the correlation of height and height of
  mate

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Another Resource

• How to attract students to the discipline
• Result of a workshop like this one
• Tips for all levels of students.

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Closing Remarks