GENERAL
DESCRIPTION
Statistics can be
defined as the science of reasoning or drawing conclusions from data. Its
purpose is to aid people in making decisions on the basis of numerical
information. Most people encounter statistical reasoning in everyday life. At
the end of the course, the student should be a more critical consumer of
numerical information, graphs, and descriptions of sample surveys and
experiments that they see in the media.
The course can be
divided into three parts. The data analysis section covers basic graphical
summarization tools for analyzing one batch of measurements, comparing two
batches, and studying the relationships in bivariate data. We briefly discuss
collecting data by use of sample surveys. This topic introduces the basic
inferential setup (populations and samples) and how to take a simple random
sample. The last section of the course introduces statistical inference -- the
science of drawing conclusions about models from samples.
TRADITIONAL AND ACTIVITY CLASSES?
All of the MATH 1150
sections have the same general goal of introducing the student to the use of
statistics in drawing conclusions from data. Most of the MATH 1150 sections are
currently taught using the traditional format using the text Basic Practice
of Statistics by
The activity MATH
1150 sections teach the same basic content as the traditional classes. The
difference is that the activity sections are taught by means of collaborative
learning. Most of the class time is spent on group work on directed activities
from the Rossman and Chance text Workshop Statistics. The instructor's
primary responsibility is to facilitate this learning by interacting with the
groups and answering questions on an individual student basis.
Although the
traditional classes donít have an activity book to use, I encourage all
instructors to use different methods to try to encourage interaction with your
students.
SYLLABUS FOR TRADITIONAL
CLASS
Professor Jim Albertalbert@bgnet.bgsu.edu
MATH 1150 Coordinator
Revised: August 18, 2008