Catapulting Student Interest in Statistics: A Little Bit Flipped, Scale'd, and Real

• Activity Number: 166
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 4, 2014 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): A. Godfrey*+ and Jerome P. Lavelle
• Companies: North Carolina State University and North Carolina State University
• Keywords: Lean Six Sigma ; Flipped Classroom ; SCALE-UP ; Team based learning

Abstract

One of the challenges of teaching statistics to any class is creating real data and connecting the methods taught to real-world examples. This is especially challenging in a graduate course with students in seven different degree programs. Forty percent of the students are Ph.D. candidates and the rest are in masters programs. The approach we describe is partially "flipped" with students preparing for each class with carefully selected reading and analysis assignments and the lecture part of the class becoming primarily discussion of the prework. Over half the class is then in a modified Student Centered Active Learning Environment - Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) where custom designed six-student workstations enable in-class experimentation using special "nerd" kits. A key part of these kits is the catapult, a device wonderfully suited for regression experiments and experimental designs. Students work in six-person teams collecting and analyzing data and presenting their results. The "real" part is done using carefully selected team projects with manufacturing companies and hospitals.