Cultivating Diversity by Encouraging Deeper Learning of Fundamental Concepts

• Activity Number: 49 - Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Field One Student at a Time
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Sunday, July 28, 2019 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and Data Science Education
• Author(s): Gretchen Falk Martinet* and Jeffrey J. Holt
• Companies: University of Virginia and University of Virginia
• Keywords: diversity; pedagogy; undergraduate; education

Abstract

The field of statistics is relatively diverse – it is a global field that is applicable to many areas of interest. However, our field still lacks a strong representation of certain groups, including some racial and ethnic minorities and lower socioeconomic groups. The Statistics Workshop is our effort to increase the representation of these groups by addressing one of the crucial times of statistical learning: introductory statistics. An introductory statistics course can be viewed as a gateway course for an undergraduate, meaning that without a solid grasp of fundamental concepts, students typically will not succeed to fully understand higher level concepts that build upon this base in subsequent courses. The Statistics Workshop provides an environment where a diverse group of students with strong mathematical backgrounds achieve a deeper mastery of the material covered in the introductory statistics course in which they are concurrently enrolled. We will discuss the development of the Statistics Workshop at the University of Virginia, its successes, its areas for improvement, and work going forward.