|
Activity Number:
|
181
|
|
Type:
|
Topic Contributed
|
|
Date/Time:
|
Monday, August 4, 2008 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
|
|
Sponsor:
|
Section on Statistical Education
|
| Abstract - #301988 |
|
Title:
|
Encouraging Statistical Thinking Through the Writing of Newspaper Articles
|
|
Author(s):
|
Meike Niederhausen*+
|
|
Companies:
|
University of Portland
|
|
Address:
|
Department of Mathematics, Portland, OR, 97203,
|
|
Keywords:
|
introductory statistics ; projects ; critical thinking
|
|
Abstract:
|
Group projects are a commonly used tool in statistics classes to encourage students to develop their statistical and critical thinking skills. Students are commonly asked to write a journal-style report at the end of the semester where they are expected to summarize and statistically analyze the results of the data they collected. We have found that students primarily concentrate on the summary of their results and leave very little energy (and time) for the critical analysis. This talk will discuss the benefits of having students write a newspaper-style article rather than a journal-style report. The shorter and more creative article encourages students to move beyond the world of statistical terminology and actually think about what their results mean and how they could be explained to a general audience.
|
