I believe that a statistics instructor should teach students not only the academic topic of the class, but also how to be critically thinking and responsible members of society. By showing students how to be statistically literate in today’s information-based culture through generating excitement about the subject, using a range of possible applications, setting clear expectations, and keeping up-to-date with different teaching techniques and learning philosophies also provides students with important life skills.

Introductory students often equate statistics with number-crunching mathematics on contrived datasets. My goal in introductory classes and in general with all my teaching is to generate excitement about statistical reasoning by emphasizing that, although uncertainty can be found everywhere, we can draw meaningful conclusions based on real data by employing statistical tools. Today, we allow computers to do the number-crunching so that students can focus on answers that the data provide. Data can often be intimidating for introductory students; teaching appropriate graphical displays and numerical summaries makes data accessible and understandable to them. The transition from intimidating to understandable is very exciting for the students and rewarding for me. Exposure to the ways of collecting, organizing, and analyzing data provides a framework to use statistical reasoning for critical thinking about life problems.

Statistics is a very interdisciplinary subject and therefore has a wide range of applications. Hands-on demonstrations of uncertainty, such as determining how many M&M’s of one particular color are typically found in one bag, provide active learning opportunities that students can experience. While these hands-on demonstrations are fun for understanding fundamentals, real-world examples in the students’ field give a broader perspective on the power of statistics. For instance, a sociology student may be interested in analyzing the recidivistic performance of individuals within a correctional release program by employing actual data from a corrective institution. Using examples from a variety of fields also emphasizes the need to communicate results effectively. Many students, especially in mathematics-related fields, need more experience in writing and communicating results to people who are not in their field. I have helped students practice this type of writing by having them summarize lab work or write either essays or reports to colleagues in other fields. To provide examples of this type of communication, I have used reading lists that contain scientific articles from many fields and have had class discussions based on them. The discussions teach students how to ask questions and how to discuss technical items with their classmates. In addition, the exposure to many applications demonstrates the interconnections of different disciplines. This exposure helps foster interdisciplinary work and encourages respect and acceptance of different opinions. Thus, my students learn the need to communicate effectively; the interconnected nature of disciplines is then a skill that is easily transferred to other aspects of life.

Providing clear expectations for the students helps to reduce their anxiety and build their confidence. I set expectations for students in a number of ways. One way is stating expectations in the syllabus and reviewing them the first day of class. These expectations tend to be more procedural; for example they can work together but their write-up must be independently done. Another way I provide expectations is using a class structure. I start each class with a quick review of the last class and what to expect from this class. This procedure helps with continuity across topics and ensures that students need to stay up-to-speed with the material as one class builds on the next. I also review the status of assignments and exams. Finally, I review questions from the previous day. I find that students are often hesitant to ask questions in class. To address this concern, I allow students to ask questions anonymously in my personal web page and I review them in the next class period. While I often encourage students to ask questions both in class and during office hours, allowing them to ask them anonymously helps early in the term as they are getting to know how I (and their classmates) react to hearing questions. Being clear with expectations allows the students the flexibility to learn using their own style within the framework of the class structure. When students feel comfortable, respected and understand what is expected of them, they become more responsible and active learners.

Following the trends in teaching techniques and learning philosophies helps me to find areas in my teaching that can be updated and expanded. This helps keep my delivery of the material from being stale after teaching the same class several times. Focusing on different areas of teaching such as promoting active learning, using case studies, creating online tutorials, establishing effective group work projects and changing modes of communication help keep the class fresh for me and exciting for the students. A large component of keeping up-to-date is expanding the use of technology and the internet. The use of computers reduces the amount of number-crunching in introductory classes. They can also be used to help conceptual understanding. For example, generating 1000 confidence intervals helps to understand that it is the interval that is random, not the parameter. Also, the use of e-learning platforms such as Moodle helps students to manipulate statistical software. In my experience, an online course on how to use the statistical package R, which is freeware, turns out to be both rewarding and motivating for students since they rapidly learn the syntax and implement the methods. Students are especially interested in new technology and the use of it in both the classroom and the virtual classroom helps to keep the students interested.

When reflecting upon my teaching philosophy, I realize my style is still a work in progress. I hope it always will be. Applications, expectations and techniques will continue to change to keep pace with the changes in statistics, technology and society. However, a critical component of my teaching is to emphasize that statistical reasoning should be used in daily and professional life in order to get the most information from the data we collect.