THE NON-STATISTICIAN’S
APPROACH TO 2.11
ANUSHA NIRENE SOUPEN
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
ROSEHILL COLLEGE
We’ve all received one of those
infinitely forwarded emails that
makes the rounds throughout the
year. This one had a fascinating
piece about how the human mind
processes reading material. The
following paragraph of prose was
given in large print and the
recipient was asked to read and
attempt to understand the
material even though the letters
in each word were out of order
and the words were atrociously
garbled misspellings:
“Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod
aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I
was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the
hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy. It dn'seot mttaer
in waht oredr the ltteers in a
wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt
tihng is taht the frist and lsat
ltteer be in the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses
and you can sitll raed it
wouthit a porbelm.”
Most people here
could read this with
understanding and
quicker than me I
might add. Now try
to read a statistical
bit of literature:
Miittluvraae asilyans
sattes an idtenossiy
ctuoonr epilsle is the
itternoiecsno of a
panle pleralal to the
xl-yapne and the
sruacfe of a btiiarave
nmarol dbttiisruein.”
In general the outcome
changes dramatically - most
people end up throwing in
the towel!
Remember the same rules
were followed but with a not
so glorious ending!
HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?
HAS STATISTICS RUINED A
REASONABLE PREMISE?
*
Don't blame statistics. The
words are just not as familiar
and the concepts are more
difficult to understand. The
statistics statement reads:
Multivariate analysis states an
isodensity contour ellipse is
the intersection of a plane
parallel to the xy-plane and
the surface of a bivariate
normal distribution – almost
impossible to visualize, UNLESS
you actually have taken a
course in multivariate analysis!
Michael Shermer: Baloney
Detection Kit
Based on the book The
Demon Haunted World by
Carl Sagan
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=eUB4j0n2UDU
With a sea of information
coming at us from all
directions, how do we sift
out the misinformation
and bogus claims, and get
to the truth? Michael
Shermer of Skeptic
Magazine lays out a
"Baloney Detection Kit,"
ten questions we should
ask when encountering a
claim.
The 10 Questions:
1. How reliable is the source of the
claim?
2.Does the source make similar claims?
3. Have the claims been verified by
somebody else?
4. Does this fit with the way the world
works?
5. Has anyone tried to disprove the
claim?
6. Where does the preponderance of
evidence point?
7. Is the claimant playing by the rules of
science?
8. Is the claimant providing positive
evidence?
9. Does the new theory account for as
many phenomena as the old theory?
10. Are personal beliefs driving the
claim?
HOW DID WE TEACH 2.11?
LEVEL 2 TEACHER’S
STARTER PACK
91266 STARTER PACK
COVER SHEET.docx
APPROACH FOR TEACHERS
• ..\2012 LESSON PLANS\12MAA\AS 91266\AS
91266 TIMELINE.docx
RESPONSE FROM LEVEL 2
TEACHERS AFTER FIRST
MEETING
MY APPROACH FOR STUDENTS
• We read a report EVERY day, starting with the
little ones available in the texts, and building
up to the massive reports available on TKI.
• Students were encouraged to write their own
nonsensical reports, as long as they included
some statistical information!
My approach was to give
my students the critical
questions, generic task,
schedule and report
template at the start of
the first week, and to
produce a report on
EVERY article we read in
the 3 weeks we had.
2.11 GENERIC TASK AND
SCHEDULE.docx
2 11 GENERIC TICK
SHEET.docx2.11 CRITICAL
QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN
READING A REPORT.docx
..\2012 LESSON
PLANS\12MAA\AS
91266\2.11 REPORTING
TEMPLATE.docx
H:\Documents\AMA\HOW
TO PASS AS 91266.pptx
They submitted their
practice reports
electronically and I
marked them online, emailing back their
reports with the correct
A M E statements
highlighted.
..\..\2012 LESSON PLANS\12MAA\AS
91266\91266 STUDENT REPORTS\2.11 TICK
SHEET TOBI.docx
We used the theory booklet
compiled by Marion Steele
and EGGS : both were
uploaded onto our school
intranet – both teacher and
student versions!
..\2012 LESSON
PLANS\12MAA\AS
91266\BOOKLET
CONSTANT FEEDBACK WAS THE KEY!
• ..\2012 LESSON PLANS\12MAA\AS
91266\91266 STUDENT REPORTS\AS 91266
PRACTICE TASK GRADES 1.docx
OTHER ROSNET UPLOADS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
links to tki sample tasks
links to nz glossary of statistical information
generic tasks
generic schedule
generic tick sheet
generic report template
colour-coded exemplars
..\2012 LESSON PLANS\12MAA\AS 91266\2.11
IAS PRACTICE TASK EXEMPLAR.docx
At the start of each lesson
I also discussed with
them features of the
report, using notes taken
from various texts –
SAMPLE SIZE, SAMPLING
ERRORS, ETC.
We taught the topic
over a 3 week
period, and students
sat the assessment
over 4 periods in the
4th week.
The full 40-page report
was put up on our
intranet for students
to access
independently, and a
hard copy of the task
and the executive
summary was issued
to all students at the
start of Week 4 of the
topic.
DISPLAY OF
CONDITIONS OF
AUTHENTICITY
Breaches of Conduct
for 91266 (2).pptx
SO’S LESSON PLANS
..\2012 LESSON
PLANS\12MAA\AS
91266\LESSON
PLANS.docx
They sat the assessment
under exam conditions,
but were allowed (as per
the standard/task) to
bring in any relevant
research material - many
students chose to print
the ENTIRE report and
bring that in as well!
WERE OUR RESULTS ANY GOOD?
•
•
•
•
•
18% E
27% M
33% A
22% NA
but – those with NA mostly did not get l2
literacy either!!!!!
• also – task has yet to be moderated!!!!!
RESPONSE FROMLEVEL 2 TEACHERS AFTER
ASSESSMENT WAS COMPLETED
“Statistics is the
New Grammar”
“In
the latest issue of
WIRED, Clive Thompson pens
a great piece which states
that in a data-driven world it
is critical that all citizens have
at least a basic literacy in
statistics.
Now and in the future, we
will have unprecedented
access to voluminous
amounts of data. The
analysis of this data and
the conclusions drawn
from it will have a major
impact on public policy,
business, and personal
decisions.
The net effect of this could go
either way–it can usher in a
period of unprecedented
efficiency, novelty, and
positive decision making or it
can precipitate deleterious
actions. Data does not speak
for itself. How we analyze and
interpret that data matters a
great deal, which puts a
premium on statistical literacy
for everyone–not just PhDs
and policy wonks.
In order to drive home
how important it is to be
open-minded about
acquiring a new language,
I printed this for my class
and asked them to
communicate with me.
I did not explain what the
new language was!
IF YOU COULD MAKE A REASONABLE
“SENTENCE” - CONGRATULATIONS,YOU’VE
JUST SPOKEN BONOBO (via lexigrams)!!!
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/softwar
e/apes-with-apps/0
Mission of the International Statistical
Literacy Project
The mission of the International
Statistical Literacy Project (ISLP) is to
support, create and participate in
statistical literacy activities and
promotion around the world. To facilitate
communication among many countries
and projects, we support this webpage,
which is a forum where those interested
in acquiring or providing statistical
literacy can meet (in a virtual sense),
exchange needs, information and
resources, and learn to disseminate
statistical literacy in their communities. It
replaces the World Numeracy Project of
the International Statistical Institute(ISI).
Numeracy in the News, features 313 full-text
newspaper articles from The Mercury in
Hobart, and other News Limited newspapers
throughout Australia are available. Most
articles have linked questions for students and
discussions for teachers. You can recognize
these pages of content by the following icons.
Newspaper Articles, Student Questions,
Teacher Discussion. The articles and questions
have not been designated for particular grade
levels. This is because there is likely to be a
wide range of literacy and numeracy skills in
any given class. Many articles have associated
with them both basic numeracy questions and
more advanced questions for senior students.
Teachers will need to peruse questions and
decide which are appropriate for particular
students.
Chance News
http://chance.dartmouth.edu/chancewiki/
(New
version) http://www.dartmouth.edu/~cha
nce (Old version) This is a web-site that is
rich in ideas using the latest news.
Summaries of articles are presented often
with suggestions for questions. Charts and
graphs are often included. Many of the
articles show errors in how people think
about statistics. The breadth of the topics
is large so that everyone should be able to
find topics of interest. I just glanced in the
latest issue and found articles about
baseball, hamburgers, obesity, and slot
machines. There is also an archive of past
Chance News.
LINK TO NZAMT 2.11
FORUM
http://www.nzmaths.co.n
z/plc/anne-and-andrewsncea-level-twoforum/as211-evaluatestatistically-basedreport#comments
“Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Respecting standard
confidence levels,
let's assume it's
simply true.“
MY ATTEMPT:
ROSES ARE RED,
VIOLETS ARE BLUE;
CALCULUS IS GREAT
BUT STATS IS POO!”