Learning Goals
Deepen your understanding and form connections within these skills:
- Identify some key elements of statistical thinking
- Describe the importance of statistical literacy
Statistics vs. Mathematics – What Is the Difference?
This class is a community of learners. Having shared goals strengthens communities. Our shared goal for this course is to maximize the learning experience for everyone. Therefore, while you’ll have plenty of time for individual thought, much of the work in the course is done collaboratively, where you will work in pairs or small groups to discuss, plan, and execute activities in the curriculum. Engaging in these activities will help you become a critical thinker and provide you with a space to share and learn from each other’s experiences.
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In this activity, you’ll explore some major differences between statistical thinking and mathematical thinking and begin to understand the statistical process as an investigative process. Along the way, you’ll begin to discover some of the aspects of building a positive learning community. Keep in mind that our shared goal for this course is to maximize the learning experience for everyone.
The Need for Statistics
We live in a data-driven society. We are surrounded by data on a daily basis. In our personal lives as consumers, citizens, and professionals, it is important that we are able to interpret the information we receive to make sound decisions. Knowledge of statistical tools and processes empowers us to feel comfortable making quantitative decisions in our careers and in matters that affect quality of life issues, and enables us to weigh for ourselves statistical claims made in the media. The study that you’ll do in this course will provide a foundation for your statistical literacy.
Let’s begin by developing an understanding of the need for statistics. First, watch the video below individually and make some notes for yourself regarding why we study statistics. Type your notes in answer to Question 1. Afterward, you’ll form groups to answer the remaining questions.
Question 1
Record your notes regarding why we study statistics as you watched the video Why Statistics?
Guidance
[Intro: ” Did you find the video interesting? One of the key points showed how analyzing statistics is like a microscope that allows us to see things that are too big for our eyes to take in. It allows us to take a big thing and shrink it down to something small so that we can see it. We’ll never really be able to comprehend the vast complexities of a really large set of data. Trying to gain that kind of perspective is immediately overwhelming. Statistics gives us tools to analyze tendencies, trends, likelihoods, and associations. Let’s work together in groups to explore this idea. In your groups, you’ll need people to play certain roles to help you work together efficiently. So, after a brief exchange of names and career pathways, decide who will serve in which roles.]
