Skip Allis
Associate Professor, Mathematics
Ayesha Delpish
Associate Professor, Statistics
Todd Lee
Professor, Mathematics
Overview
The team investigated ways to incorporate diversity-related data-driven discussions into MTH 112: General Statistics. Our general proposal was to find sound data sets related to a variety of diversity concepts, and create at least one teaching module around these data sets that will allow direct application of the course content to discussion of diversity and social justice concepts.
The literature supports this kind of approach. A beginning for this pedagogical movement came in 1992, when Cobb issued a “call to change” in statistics education encouraging instructors to incorporate more active learning techniques into the college classroom. This movement eventually resulted in the development of the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education College Report (GAISE; Aliaga et al., 2005). The GAISE College report deals specifically with teaching college-level introductory statistics courses and gave six recommendations:
- Emphasize statistical literacy and develop statistical thinking.
- Use real data.
- Stress conceptual understanding rather than mere knowledge of procedures.
- Foster active learning in the classroom.
- Use technology for developing concepts and analyzing data.
- Use assessments to improve and evaluate student learning.
The report states that:
“It is important to use real data in teaching statistics, for reasons of authenticity, for considering issues related to how and why the data were produced or collected, and to relate the analysis to the problem in context….An important aspect of dealing with real data is helping students learn to formulate good questions and use data to answer them appropriately based on how the data were produced.”
By creating modules/case-studies constructed around real data pertaining to both local and global diversity issues, this brings a natural tie between the needs for context, awareness, and appropriate action. Using a case-study approach also provides a direct tie-in to fostering active learning and conceptual understanding.
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