This page explains the grading policy, the topics, and the teaching methodology for the course.
Each semester, there will be a quiz approximately every two weeks. Your worst quiz grade each semester will not be counted. Quizzes will count for 60 percent of your grade. The first semester, the mid-term exam at the end of the semester will be 25 percent of your grade, and homework will be 15 percent of your grade. The second semester, homework will be 40 percent of your grade. Because the course is designed to prepare you to take the AP test, there will be no final exam in the Spring.
Homework assignments will be posted on the web site on the news and calendar page. If you miss class, check the web site and stay current with assignments.
This is a course in applied mathematics. The good news is that this means that it is easy to demonstrate the usefulness of this course in the real world. The bad news is that it places responsibility on the student to be able to do more than simply manipulate formulas.
In geometry, suppose that we gave a student two problems:
Mathematically, these problems are identical. However, the second problem is a word problem. In addition to knowing the formula for the volume of a cylinder, you have to be able to understand the words and analyze how the formula applies.
Statistics problems tend to be like the second problem above. That is, they are word problems. In order to demonstrate mastery of statistics, you must be able to interpret the verbal description of a problem, apply the correct mathematical formulas, and then give an answer that speaks to the verbal description of the problem. Often, the mathematical formulas are the simplest part of the problem. What is a challenge is translating a realistic problem into statistical concepts and then translating the statistical calculations back into the context of the problem.Why take statistics?
The course develops skills in the communication of technical ideas. In the modern world, having technical skills by itself is of limited use. Having communication skills without technical know-how also is limiting. Combining the two is powerful.
Statistics is growing in importance, primarily because of computers. Statistical methods are what have been used to achieve breakthroughs in music compression, medical treatment, and financial innovation; expansion of the credit card industry; and solutions to artificial intelligence problems, such as speech recognition or playing chess.
More and more occupations require statistical proficiency. Journalists, health care professionals, and attorneys increasingly encounter statistical issues in their work.
Course Topics and Teaching Philosophy
The AP Statistics Test is built around four main topics.
My plan is to teach statistics the way I learned it. When I first took statistics, 30 years ago, the focus was on probability and statistical inference, which is the core mathematical component of the course. We will establish a solid foundation in those areas during the first semester. We will pick up the topics of exploring data (descriptive statistics) and planning a study during the second semester, some time before the AP test. From the perspective of the textbook, we skip the first 5 chapters. We pick up chapter 2 when we do chapter 9, and I find that the other material in chapters 1-5 can be covered in just a few weeks in the Spring. By April and May, instead of scrambling to complete the course, we will find ourselves with time to review and possibly even take a day off here and there.
The primary text for this course will be the lecture notes on this web site. The textbook, The Practice of Statistics, by Yates, Moore, and McCabe, is useful as a backup, as are the AP study guides that one can find. Many of the homework assignments will come from the textbook. The study guides are excellent sources of sample problems and solutions. Finally, there is another excellent on-line statistics text by David M. Lane.
All quizzes and the midterm will be open book and open notes. The AP exam is not open book or open notes, but a list of formulas is provided with the AP exam. Calculators also are permitted for the AP test. The most helpful calculator is one with built-in statistical functions, such as the TI-83. I tend to put less emphasis than other teachers on calculators, because I prefer not to use calculators for exercises, such as simulations, where a real statistician would use a computer.
Questions? Feel free to email me at arnoldkling-at-arnoldkling.com