Reform and Renewal in the Introductory Statistics Courses

• Activity Number: 310
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Ron Barnes*+ and Anna Simmons and Nancy Leveill
• Companies: University of Houston-Downtown and University of Houston-Downtown and University of Houston-Downtown
• Keywords: deletions ; reformulations

Abstract

Perhaps it is time to eliminate from the first statistics courses, topics that have become obsolete by changes in technology or further developments in statistics. A number of topics for possible deletion or reformulation are considered in this talk, such as the deletion of material on the normal approximation to the binomial- made unnecessary by EXCEL's BINOMDIST option.

Separate chapters on simple and multiple linear regression, with different formulas for each chapter are rather redundant and the material needs to be combined into a single coherent chapter.

Various tests of hypotheses on one population mean include one where the standard deviation is known, which is almost never the case. Other problems with material in this chapter are also noted.

Problems with the proliferation of different t-tables are also noted.

These and other ideas are considered.