(This article was originally published at Learn and Teach Statistics and Operations Research, and syndicated at StatsBlogs.)
How do you teach statistics with limited access to computers?
Last century this wasn’t really an issue, at least not in high schools,
(This article was originally published at Learn and Teach Statistics and Operations Research, and syndicated at StatsBlogs.)
How do you teach statistics with limited access to computers?
Last century this wasn’t really an issue, at least not in high schools, as statistics has been a peripheral part of the mathematics curriculum and the mathematics of statistics has been taught as a subset of mathematics.
But this is changing, and it looks as if the change is starting in New Zealand. The NZ school curriculum has leapt ahead of the rest of the world. Statistics is taught at all levels and at the higher levels of high school, statistics is taught as it is actually done in practice – using computers. All analysis is done by a computer package, particularly using iNZight, a purpose-built, free package. The emphasis is on understanding, concepts and critical thinking, rather than the mechanical and slow application of formulas. The rigour has moved from the calculations to the meaning. It is SO exciting!
One big concern for many teachers is access to computers. In many schools there aren’t enough computer suites to schedule the students in for their statistics classes. So how do we deal with this?
It might seem that the computers are needed every day, but in fact they aren’t. And neither is it necessary to have one computer per student.
Make them share
I’ve never had a problem when students have had to share computers. I find the people who do share a computer, learn better than those who are trying to work it out on their own. I actively encourage sharing computers in a lab.
I recently had the opportunity to be on the learning end, with computer instruction. The teacher was showing what to do at the front, and we in the class were echoing her steps on our computers. This is not ideal, as it requires everyone to be at the same pace, but as we were adults it was fine. I hadn’t brought my laptop, so I was sharing with another student. I’m pretty sure I learned more, as I got to follow what was happening on both computers, rather than trying to work it out and keep up. I was also able to help my partner, as she would lose track of what was happening when her computer wasn’t doing what it was meant to.
I have found this to be true at all levels, especially when learning a new package. Having two heads at the computer encourages discussion, which is an important element in learning. Students are also more likely to ask questions when they have already discussed a problem with another student. Pairing is so useful that some software companies get programmers to work in pairs, sharing a computer and work desk, because they have discovered that this has benefits.
Think about what we are trying to teach
I am currently developing resources for a unit in time series analysis, based on the New Zealand curriculum, and using the free software, iNZight. At first glance, you might think that the entire unit would need to be taught in a computer lab. This is definitely not the case. And because of the layout of many computer labs, in fact you are better to stay out of them for most of the unit so that students can work in groups.
I find that it is worthwhile to think about the attitudes, skills and knowledge that we wish our pupils to develop in a unit – in that order of importance! These examples are illustrative rather than exhaustive.
Attitudes – By the end of the topic all students should feel that time series analysis is interesting and relevant (and maybe even fun!).
Time series analysis is pretty straightforward at the beginner level, but can be quite exciting. Once you know the basics, and with a convenient package to speed up the mechanics, you can do some interesting detective work. I would want the students to share some of this excitement, and start to explore on their own.
Students should be able to:
- identify elements of a time series, relating them to the real life context.
- write a report on a time series analysis using correct terminology, clear enough for a non-expert reader to understand.
- use iNZight to analyse different time series.
- Student should be able to explain and apply the following terms correctly: time series, trend, seasonality, stationary, noise, variation
And that is about it really!
So how do we do this, with or without full computer access.
Ev