Thank you for visiting the StatPREP video. I am a statistics instructor at Cococino Community College.  Our project is focused on fostering the widespread use of data-centered methods and pedagogies in introductory statistics courses. StatPREP works directly with college-level instructors, both online and in community-based workshops, to develop the understanding and skills needed to work and teach with modern data.

 

We are especially interested in discussion regarding teaching introductory statistics using real data, focusing on statistical concepts rather than computations, and how we can effectively use technology to help increase student understanding. However, please comment on any aspect of our project.

Welcome to the StatPREP conversation! I am a two-year college mathematics and statistics educator at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, CA. 

Changing practice in our classrooms is tough! StatPREP gave me a supportive community of educators around me to help me rethink how we teach introductory statistics today. 

I look forward to hearing from you this week. I'd like to know what questions you have about data-driven stats? How have you experienced meaningful professional development and what would you like to know about the StatPREP model? 

This is very cool! I took my first stats class more than 20 years ago, and was lucky enough to have teachers who focused on concepts. (Their philosophy was "if you understand the concepts, you can derive most of the math in a pinch -- and we have graphing calculators" which has served me well...) I love seeing how much that approach continues on.

This is a great program. Our Passion-Driven Statistics model has many similarities.

What software(s) do you find a lot of your partners at community colleges are using in the classroom? I noticed on your website it mentions R. Our partners tend to use SAS on Demand, R, and SPSS the most then we have others that use STATA, Python, StatCrunch, Excel, JMP, and JASP. 

We are always looking for new archival datasets that are cleaned, have a large number of variables and cases, and a good code book. I found on your website a link to many datasets and places to search for data. Do you have one or two that you recommend we explore? We have liked and students have found interest in the below.

• The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) 
• The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
• Financial Well-Being Survey Data (NFWBS)
• Mars Crater Database
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NESARC)
• Outlook on Life Surveys (OOL)
• National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)
• Traffic Stops Racial Profiling Prohibition Project 

 

What strategies have you found the most successfully in recruiting participants to workshops that take what they learn and actually implement it in their classroom?

 

I saw on the website that you have Regional Hubs. Can you explain how you use these hubs to facilitate your model? 

 

You mentioned in the video a few strategies you used in the virtual workshops that helped with engagement. Can you expand upon this by explaining what strategies you plan to continue to use virtually and for in person workshops? Or if one of your webinars demonstrates these I can watch whichever one that is linked on your website.

 

 

Great to hear about how you adapted to virtual approaches and found creative ways to engage the participants.  Do you have any information yet about how the participants are using the workshop tools/datasets in their own instruction?  Are they adapting and expanding to suit their local contexts?  It would be great to hear more about the impact on the teaching of statistics and data science in the institutions involved in the project.

STAT Prep Team-

It is so refreshing to see new data sets being introduced to introductory statistics courses. I am curious about the different kinds of topics your data sets explore. Using data (and particularly data with greater relevance to students) to teach statistics may impact how much students engage in courses as well as their persistence in the courses. Like introductory mathematics courses, introductory stats courses are often gatekeepers.  Are your instructors paying attention to changes in course persistence, course engagement and perhaps achievement. (Fewer Ds, Fs, and withdraws in intro stats) for example...

 

Hi Kathryn!  This is a powerful project.  I am excited to see how statistics and math may be part of our culture through the impact of professors in their learning communities that you train.  I wonder how can I participate in your workshops and also bring to Puerto Rico educators your work.  

What is, in your opinion, the greatest challenge in teaching statistics in our Community Colleges in times like these?  How can we handle those students that are not comfortable with coding, functions, and math in general?

My students don't seem to have an issue with the coding, but I do tell them I will give them the exact code they need. I am more interested in my students understanding how to use data to make decisions. I am at a community college. I tell my students exactly how to do the code and that doesn't seem to be a barrier. I also tell my students that there is very little algebra in the course and make them feel comfortable with this. I feel that students had harder time doing the formulas by hand than they do with coding.