Observing, Describing, and Identifying Clouds
In this activity students observe and sketch clouds, describing their forms. They initially generate descriptions of a personal nature and then move toward building a more scientific vocabulary. They then correlate their descriptions with the standard classifications using the ten cloud types identified for GLOBE. Each student develops a personal cloud booklet to be used in conjunction with the GLOBE Cloud Chart. . The intended outcome is that students will be able to identify cloud types using
Chance Welcome Page
This site contains materials to help teach a Chance course, an NSF-sponsored quantitative literacy course that was cooperatively developed by the Chance Team. The goal of Chance is to make students more informed, critical readers of current news stories that use probability and statistics. Links to Chance news, the course, video and audio, teaching aids, and related resources are provided.
Exploring Radiometric Dating with Dice
In this lab, students use dice to simulate radioactive decay. Students create a standard decay curve for a fictional element, calculate the half-life of this element, and, using the information their graph, "date" rocks that contain the new element. The use of dice has some advantages over similar exercises because the half-life is not immediately obvious to students and they will need to experimentally determine it. Learning goals, context for use, teaching tips, materials, assessment tips and
Hurricane Impacts on the U.S. Oil and Natural Gas Markets
This website contains official US energy statistics. The site provides reports summarizing Hurricane Katrina impacts on US oil and gas markets. The site contains shut-in statistics, Gulf oil and natural gas facts, price information, plus links to news, related data and references.
Introductory Material to The Good Book: Thirty Years of Comments, Conjectures and Conclusions
Introductory essays and interview to The Good Book: Thirty Years of Comments, Conjectures and Conclusions by I.J. Good, edited by David Banks and Eric P. Smith. The collection includes an introduction by Good, a long and thorough interview with him, and three appreciations of his work. I.J. Good is ...
Introduction to Minitab
This laboratory introduces students to the basics of the Minitab software. Students make use of a basic example (water consumption and temperature) to introduce students to manipulation of data, calculation of descriptive statistics, and creation of histograms.
Learning Objectives for Introductory Statistics
This text document lists detailed learning objectives for introductory statistics courses. Learning objectives are brief, clear statements of what learners will be able to perform at the end of a course.
Sampling from a Real Estate Database
This material is a detailed exercise for students in introductory statistics. Students are asked to collect a random sample of data from a real estate website; conduct descriptive statistics (including confidence intervals); and write a report summarizing their findings.
Star Library: What Makes the Standard Deviation Larger or Smaller?
The activity is designed to help students develop a better intuitive understanding of what is meant by variability in statistics. Emphasis is placed on the standard deviation as a measure of variability. As they learn about the standard deviation, many students focus on the variability of bar heights ...
Star Library: Regression - Residuals - Why?
As teachers of statistics, we know that residual plots and other diagnostics are important to deciding whether or not linear regression is appropriate for a set of data. Despite talking with our students about this, many students might believe that if the correlation coefficient is strong enough, these ...
Star Library: Which Paper Towel is More Absorbent?
This group activity focuses on conducting an experiment to determine which of two brands of paper towels are more absorbent by measuring the amount of water absorbed. A two-sample t-test can be used to analyze the data, or simple graphics and descriptive statistics can be used as an exploratory analysis. ...
Star Library: An Unusual Episode
Dawson (1995) presented a data set giving a population at risk and fatalities for an “unusual episode” (the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic) and discussed the use of the data set in a first statistics course as an elementary exercise in statistical thinking, the goal being to deduce the origin of ...
T Probabilities
The applet in this section allows you to see how the T distribution is related to the Standard Normal distribution by calculating probabilities. The T distribution is primarily used to make inferences on a Normal mean when the variance is unknown.
Science as Investigation: A First Majors Course Teaching the Process
The first laboratory course biology majors take should challenge their expectation that biology is the mere memorization of knowledge. Rather, it should introduce them through experience to the scope and limitations of scientific investigation. Following a brief introduction to epistemology and the nature and goals of science, this course provides students with a developing understanding of scientific thinking, methodology, and experimental design. During the final unit of the course students de
Using A Molecular Marker to Study Genetic Equilibrium in Drosophila melanogaster
Using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), genetic variation in a laboratory population of Drosophila is characterized. The population contains flies with two variants of a molecular marker. DNA from individual flies is amplified by PCR, generating products which are either "long" or "short" when visualized on an agarose gel. Three PCR "genotypes" (long/long, long/short, and short/short) are distinguishable and should be present in Hardy-Weinberg frequencies. The exercise requires one session for gr
Using Chromosome Kits to Assemble Human Karyotypes
This exercise provides a hands on introduction to the preparation of human karyotypes. Students practice karyotype preparation using Biophotos of normal male and female chromosome smears. The students then prepare a karyotype using a Biophoto of chromosomes from a Down syndrome individual or from a Down syndrome carrier.
Using Handheld Wireless Computers to Increase Interactivity and Collaborative Learning in Large Clas
We conducted a pilot study to determine the effectiveness of wireless, handheld computers in fostering active and collaborative learning in lecture-based teaching. We compared the capabilities of the largest type of handheld, the Jornada 820, to that of the smallest, a Handspring Visor "personal digital assistant." This article describes our use of the handhelds in a variety of classroom exercises, emphasizing wireless internet access. We explain our successes, problems, and proposed solutions.
Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit
This Web site, created to complement the Vietnam: Journeys of Body, Mind, and Spirit exhibit, includes the following sections: Introduction is an overview of the incredible diversity of Vietnam's people and landscapes; Journeys Through Time and Space provides a look at Vietnam today and a time-line of this ancient country's history; Journeys of Gods, Families and Ancestors considers the importance of lunar New Year and the ancestral altar; Journeys of People and Goods examines how international
A Seasonal Guide to New York City's Invertebrates
This engaging illustrated guide gives an introduction to the local invertebrates one can see in various habitats of New York City and offers suggestions for where and when to search for them, along with information on how best to protect them. The Seasonal Guide is being distributed at no charge throughout the City to parks, nature centers, and other organizations involved in public education and conservation.
Kids' Guide to the Birds of Central Park
An illustrated guide to birds commonly found in Central Park, and an introduction to birding for young naturalists. The guide also includes information on where to go in Central Park to see birds in various habitats: freshwater, woodlands, and open areas.
