The Joy of Stats

Hans Rosling has a bit of a cult following. In 2010, he aired an hour-long program on BBC, The Joy of Stats, and it has been one of my favorite statistics videos.

U.S. Census Bureau: Statistics in Schools

The U.S. Census Bureau unveiled its newly updated Statistics in Schools program for K-12 teachers and students earlier this month. Using current and historical data, the Census Bureau program provides teachers the tools to help students understand statistical concepts and improve their data analysis skills. There are free online activities and other resources available in geography, history, social studies, sociology, as well as math.

It looks good.

Statistics Education & Social Justice

In August, I facilitated and attended a planning day with some fellow AP Statistics teachers at Math for America in NYC. We meet regularly throughout the year but we decided that the end of September was too long to wait to fully prepare for our year. Over a dozen of us showed up at the MƒA offices and spent over 4 hours discussing prep for our AP Stats courses. One of the main things on the agenda: how to incorporate social justice into our stats classes.

TMC NYC 2016 and Commute Times

I had a really great time at the mini Twitter Math Camp (TMC) conference in NYC last month. I met up with a great group of teachers to discuss math and teaching. I also presented about the statistical investigation process using commute times as a context.

Statistical Questions

What makes a question a statistical question? Furthermore, what makes a good statistical question?

The Common Core State Standards (6.SP.A.1) describes it like this:

... one that anticipates variability in the data related to the question and accounts for it in the answers. For example, “How old am I?” is not a statistical question, but “How old are the students in my school?” is a statistical question because one anticipates variability in students’ ages.

This statistics standard is slated for 6th grade students¹, but I recently heard a more effective explanation of what a statistical question is that will be relevant for middle school, high school, and college statistics. It also defines what makes a statistical question a good one, which the Common Core definition does not.

ASA's Prediction 2016 Contest

The American Statistical Association has a challenge for stats-savvy students: predict* the next U.S. president!

Prediction* 2016 is a contest for high school and undergraduate college students to predict* the winner of the U.S. presidential election using statistical methods. Winners will receive a variety of prizes and perks, including exposure to the nation’s leading statisticians and data scientists.

Common Core Algebra II: Music and Gender

In Fall 2015, NYS released a set of sample questions for the new Common Core Algebra II Regents. They included this question regarding independence. I've done similar questions like this with my AP Statistics students. Here, I outline how I would improve and present this question to Algebra II students. In fact, I've created two enhanced versions of this problem.