We’re in a graduate-level statistics. If we can make it through this class, then the rest is downhill. < now say 1000 hail marys and kiss the ring that the priest is wearing > Okay, let's practice our hypothetical statement: There is a significant statistical difference in the stress level of statistics students when compared to graduates of statistics classes such that current statistics students have higher levels of stress. Just practicing. < groan >
A Matter of Understanding My biggest challenge with teaching this subject is convincing students that they really can master the subject. Most people convince themselves that the subject is too difficult to learn and has no relevancy other than a rite of passage. Regards, Dick
Dick, I agree. I start each statistics class with a set of "rules". They are really guidelines. However, rule #1 is RELAX. The last rule is "RELAX." I usually tell them if they can add subtract, multiply, divide, and take square roots using a calculator, they can do statistics. I find the number crunching is rarely a problem (occasional transpositions or arithmetic errors, but nothing terrible). Along the way they even start to grasp the basics of probability. Where most students seem to have problems, even after going over it repeatedly is forming the null and alternate hypotheses, or making the correct decision on rejecting the null. One thing I really enjoy is the ways some students write their decision- they can be quite creative- and oft times convoluted. One was similar to (but not exactly- because it fried a few synapses when I read it) "we fail to accept the rejection of the null hypothesis." Free t-tests for everyone!
I managed to pass several math & stats courses. I did problems and more problems. Did I understand anything? I understood how to do problems and more problems.
Sadistics! I wish there was a way to just hook a fiber optic line to a brain and have all that stuff downloaded. I would have opted for that! Math and music have one common denominator- both take a lot of practice- Also- like hitting your head on a brick wall, you feel better when you stop.
Sci Fi? Mannn, that class is kicking my butt!!! It's tough!!! I think that that may be possible in the future. However, I would be concerned that the opinions of others might also be downloaded. I only want the facts. That is possible for courses like math and statistics, but everything else has "opinions" attached to it.
The true reason my Ph.D. is from Michigan State, not Stanford: I was accepted and offered an assistantship at both schools, the only two I applied to. With the Stanford acceptance came a letter explaining/warning that all doctoral students in the school of communication were required to take six quarters of advanced statistics, taught by the author of the textbook (Quinn McNemar) at 7 am, five days a week. East Lansing, here I come, or, rather, there I went.
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty we are free at last! Hallelujah!!! We just had our last graduate-level statistics class!!! And it’s over!!! We made it!!! Now all I have to do is wait and see what grade I got.
