1. Lisa Dierker
  2. https://www.wesleyan.edu/academics/faculty/ldierker/profile.html
  3. Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
  4. A Data-Driven, Multidisciplinary Curriculum Providing Access to the Data Analytics Economy through Project-based Learning
  5. https://passiondrivenstatistics.com/
  6. Wesleyan University
  1. Kristin Flaming
  2. Faculty
  3. A Data-Driven, Multidisciplinary Curriculum Providing Access to the Data Analytics Economy through Project-based Learning
  4. https://passiondrivenstatistics.com/
  5. Valdosta State University
Public Discussion

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  • Icon for: Lisa Dierker

    Lisa Dierker

    Lead Presenter
    Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
    May 10, 2021 | 04:27 p.m.

    Welcome! Passion-Driven Statistics is a project-based, introductory curriculum that has been implemented at liberal arts colleges, large state universities, regional colleges/universities, medical schools, community colleges, and high schools. Our goal is to create a welcoming (and empowering) experience that opens the analytics economy to everyone! Hear instructors share their experiences with the curriculum and recent move to an online format.

     
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    Kristin Flaming
  • Icon for: Laura Larkin

    Laura Larkin

    Facilitator
    Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow
    May 11, 2021 | 04:02 p.m.

    Hi Lisa-

    I'm a high school math teacher who has taught an IB course with a large emphasis on statistics and students get interested and excited when they get to choose a topic of interest to research.  I'm curious how the high school course differs from the college course or the summer boot camp.  I'm also wondering if there are any challenges, particularly at the high school level, with the flipped classroom.  Finally, this sounds like a great way to introduce transdisciplinary STEM with coding, data science, and statistics.  Has the course been approved in any states e.g. California UC a-g?

     
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    Kristin Flaming
  • Icon for: Lisa Dierker

    Lisa Dierker

    Lead Presenter
    Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
    May 11, 2021 | 04:39 p.m.

    Hi Laura,

    Sounds like you are already doing it!...starting with real data, letting students ask their own questions and teaching anything needed to answer their questions. That's great! Other high school classrooms have taken this well (Perry High School, OH, Scarsdale High School, NY and others). There is not much of a difference except going a bit further into inferential statistics at the college level. For high school boot camps we stay largely in descriptive statistics only because of the short time that we have with them. Flipped classroom works well pretty much across the board. Feel free to check out our videos on the website https://passiondrivenstatistics.com/. Post pandemic I anticipate more students will prefer the flexibility of video lectures. I am not familiar with many formal "approval" processes but agree this is an ideal curriculum for high school to college pathways. Currently passion-driven statistics is being implemented as a research methods course, a data science course, a capstone experience, and a summer research boot camp with students from a wide variety of academic settings (it is even used in medical schools!). I am currently working on shorter data-driven projects to try to get more data into traditional Gen Ed experiences. Here is our new website, https://digital-intro.com/. Happy to connect if we can be helpful to you in any way! ldierker@wesleyan.edu

     
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  • Icon for: Laura Larkin

    Laura Larkin

    Facilitator
    Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow
    May 12, 2021 | 07:08 a.m.

    Hi Lisa-

    If your summer boot camp focuses primarily on descriptive statistics, I could totally see these units (or similar ones) being used in middle school where students are introduced to descriptive stats. Are you familiar with Jo Boaler's new Explorations in Data Science Course? I know it recently received UC a-g accreditation and will be piloted next fall.  I'm not  following closely but there seems to be similar focus.

     

    https://www.youcubed.org/wp-content/uploads/202...

     
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  • Icon for: Lisa Dierker

    Lisa Dierker

    Lead Presenter
    Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
    May 12, 2021 | 08:40 a.m.

    Thanks so much for sharing this with me! I was not familiar with the UC a-g accreditation mechanism so I will definitely be reading more about it. Thanks too for the Exploration in Data Science Course curriculum. It looks like they collect their own data, but is otherwise similar at the exploration steps. That is the wonderful thing about data, from novice to expert, the exploratory process is the same and it is one everyone can connect with. 

    Though we have worked with students as young as rising 9th graders but not 7th and 8th, this summer, Kristin Flaming will be running a middle school teacher boot camp workshop in Oklahoma. Part of the SAGE STEAM Camp initiative, the goal is to expose girls from rural communities to STEAM content. The workshop will help middle school teachers incorporate STEAM in their classroom. We are excited about the possibilities!

    If you know middle school or high school teachers interested in adding data driven projects to their courses, we are also holding a short virtual workshop as part of the USCOTS workshop in June. 

    https://www.causeweb.org/cause/uscots/uscots21/workshop/6. It will be held on Thursday, June 24th and Friday, June 25th 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET.  All are welcome! 

     
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  • Icon for: David Barnes

    David Barnes

    Facilitator
    Associate Executive Director, NCTM
    May 11, 2021 | 04:50 p.m.

     

    Hi Lisa!  Very interesting!  I am intrigued by your use of “larger real-world data sets” in a way that connects directly with the students’ area of interest.  Do I have that right?  Would you be able to share a few examples of some of the interests students had coupled with the types of questions they pursued?  Could you also share about where you looked for, found, and how you used the data sets?

     

     
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  • Icon for: Lisa Dierker

    Lisa Dierker

    Lead Presenter
    Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
    May 11, 2021 | 05:00 p.m.

    Hi David, There are a wide range of data sets and questions and the sky is the limit... Is exposure to a drug use prevention curriculum associated with lower rates of experimentation with substances? Are religious adolescents less likely to be depressed? What factors predict ‘safe sex’ practices? Popular data sets includes ADDHealth, National Household Survey of Drug Use and Health, General Social Survey, Outlook on Life Survey, among others. We have even used a data set on Mars craters. A very good sources is ICPSR from the University of Michigan. We have also partnered with local non profits and school systems who are able to deidentify their data appropriately. We are always looking for more data sets! Lisa

     
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  • Icon for: David Barnes

    David Barnes

    Facilitator
    Associate Executive Director, NCTM
    May 16, 2021 | 02:48 p.m.

    Thanks Lisa!  The asking real questions and using real data is really powerful!

  • Icon for: Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein

    Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein

    Researcher
    May 11, 2021 | 04:58 p.m.

    This is really cool! I'm curious to hear more: how do you balance the needs of students who will ultimately take more statistics, and those who may never take more stats again?

    Our project works on supporting statistical inference for adults who may not have much or any statistics background, so I'm always curious about the balance between these two 'introductory' audiences!

     
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  • Icon for: Lisa Dierker

    Lisa Dierker

    Lead Presenter
    Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
    May 11, 2021 | 05:17 p.m.

    Hi Jena, This has worked for us by taking students exactly where they are at and moving them forward. If you don't know what a data set is, no problem. If you do, great, you may move a little more quickly. For students with strong backgrounds, they can get a lot of extra experience by taking their projects further than the class requires (and many do!). For less experienced students, there is no pressure to do this. They still become confident coders and conquer a complete project. Many may not have intended to take more courses in statistics, but change their minds once they have experienced the thrill of answering their own questions with data. It is too tall of an order to teach everything someone would need for their whole life under the topic of statistics in just 14 weeks. We try to empower students to be able to tackle data in the future even if that learning is not in the context of a formal statistics course. I think this works because the model is 100% student centered, an approach I am trying to use to reform all of the courses that I teach :)

     
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  • Icon for: Zach Mbasu

    Zach Mbasu

    Informal Educator
    May 12, 2021 | 03:07 a.m.

    This is a very inspiring project! I am intrigued by the student learning approach where they pick from a study and data set to answer their own research question! I like the personal engagement and commitment in the learning process. The authentic problems are more engaging for students, changes how concepts are learned and what is taught including strengthening soft skills like communication, collaborative attitude and teamwork. I am genuinely interested in how this could be adapted and scaled for schools in Africa.

     
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  • Icon for: Lisa Dierker

    Lisa Dierker

    Lead Presenter
    Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
    May 12, 2021 | 08:51 a.m.

    Hi Zach, I am happy to say that our most successful partner is the University of Ashesi in Ghana. They teach this vibrant, project-based model to more than 400 students during the fall semesters. Check out this video of their poster session in 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4Bj5NkaNPg&amp...

    Also, I have just been added to the U.S. Fulbright Specialist list for a 4 year term. This program " pairs U.S. academics and professionals with host institutions abroad to share their expertise, strengthen institutional linkages, hone their skills, gain international experience, and learn about other cultures while building capacity at their overseas host institutions."

    For schools in Africa and other countries that would like to host a visit for anywhere form 4 to 6 weeks, the Fulbright program can provide financial support - https://fulbrightspecialist.worldlearning.org/a...

     

     
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  • Icon for: Bridina Lemmer

    Bridina Lemmer

    Facilitator
    Technical Assistance Consultant
    May 12, 2021 | 11:54 a.m.

    "I like coaching students instead of lecturing to students" 

    This quote resonated so much with me. As a former science teacher I noticed many of my students had checked out of both math and science because they felt like they just couldn't do it. Other students, as you mentioned, were really adept at at memorizing facts but had difficulty applying that knowledge or any skills. As I'm working with science teachers now on a more flipped approach in the science classroom I'm finding there are some strong PD needs for teachers that haven't experienced this type of learning before. Have you encountered this with math teachers as well? And if so, what are the strongest "needs" you are seeing?

     

    This sounds like a really exciting program! 

     
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  • Icon for: Kristin Flaming

    Kristin Flaming

    Co-Presenter
    Department of Psychological Science - Faculty Member
    May 12, 2021 | 02:55 p.m.

    Thanks Bridina for the question. We have found the best way to teach the teacher is by having them attend a workshop with us where we have them complete a small project much like their students will complete on a larger scale. This allows them to experience the process start to finish. We find they are more comfortable with flipped approach, have a better understanding of what their students will do and their needs. 

     
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  • Icon for: Lisa Dierker

    Lisa Dierker

    Lead Presenter
    Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
    May 12, 2021 | 03:41 p.m.

    Hi Bridina, Just to add to Kristin's message... for very motivated instructors who see the benefit and have some experience with a statistical software platform, support through a workshop has definitely worked. That said, we are missing so many because of the PD needs you are talking about. What is needed is far more  intensive and supportive than a workshop. At Wesleyan, we have instructors support the course as a co-instructor the first time out. They can just jump in and talk to students, or work on their own short project to improve their skills, or usually a combination of the two. No instructor has ever left this experience not completely hooked on the model and with a huge infusion of confidence. Put simply the instructors need to be students in a project-based course first to feel both the excitement of working on their own question and having the opportunity to hone their statistical software skills. People are too busy to do that training outside of the work day. I am convinced that bringing PD into the classroom is the answer. And it does not have to be expensive. If I have 20 students in my class, I would be able to take 35 or more with a co-instructor even though that co-instructor is in the learning phase. Project-based learning is all about keeping the conversation going. Everyone that is part of that conversation is helping (including peers!). 

    While our model has had loads of success in psychology stat courses, sociology, biology, political science, etc., we have found that most Math teachers have not been exposed to applied data projects and/or statistical software. They can pick up these skills very, very quickly with a co-instructor that already has them! Workshops are not enough. 

     

     
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  • Icon for: Sherry Hsi

    Sherry Hsi

    Researcher
    May 12, 2021 | 03:24 p.m.

    I wish I had a course like this when I was in college. I really like that students get to choose, explore, and analyze datasets especially now that there are so many open datasets available, perhaps too much data. I am wondering how you scaffold or help students scope the data and/or clean messy datasets to make them manageable to surface what concepts or moves you want them to learn. As I was watching the video, it reminded me of an online paper about "data moves" for teaching data analysis and exploration using the tool codap.concord.org. Here is a link to the paper. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0mg8m7g6

     
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  • Icon for: Lisa Dierker

    Lisa Dierker

    Lead Presenter
    Walter Crowell University Professor of Social Sciences
    May 12, 2021 | 03:53 p.m.

    Sherry, Thanks so much for sharing that paper. I love the idea of calling them "data moves". Its perfect and since data management is at least 80% of any data project (something that always surprising students), the moves are not only central to a project but also arguably the most empowering piece we are giving students. I mean you can look up how to do an ANOVA if you forget, but the decision making process that helps you manage your variables is a central skill that needs to be used flexibly and with insight. We teach data management early (no later than week 3) and then students keep using those skills throughout the semester. Here is a link to the "chapter" that outlines many of the moves we want students to consider (along with code in all the major stat packages to make them happen). https://ldierker1.github.io/passiondrivenstatis.... The accompanying video links (one for each software platform) walk students through how decisions were made, what the cleaned up variables look like and how they might be used. We don't tell students how to manage their data, but we help them make their own decisions and then give them support to implement those decisions. Students go back to the data management ideas again and again as they choose new variables for their project and deepen their research questions!

     
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  • Icon for: Israel Ramirez

    Israel Ramirez

    K-12 Teacher
    May 13, 2021 | 07:40 p.m.

    It is great to learn from your video that Passion Driven Stattistics has been introduced in most levels of education engaging students to enhance critical thinking skills. Also, I like the fact that this project has facilitated in the teacher's role to make it easier to coach the students. Thank you for sharing!

     
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  • Icon for: Kristin Flaming

    Kristin Flaming

    Co-Presenter
    Department of Psychological Science - Faculty Member
    May 14, 2021 | 11:19 a.m.

    Thank you Israel. We take a student-centered approach to the course. We also use the frame of mind when working with an instructor new to the approach, new to working with real data, etc. in that we meet them where they are at and work forward. For those interested in learning more we offer workshops but we also do one-on-one support via Zoom and email. Instructors that are less comfortable with the software we try to Zoom into their course during data management to help support them the first time through if we cannot be on campus.