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Session 3565

Student Project Groups in Statistics Classes at LSU-Shreveport -- A Four Year Review W. Conway Link Louisiana State University -- Shreveport

Abstract

Statistics courses have achieved among some students, the reputation of being difficult, useless, and boring, much like mathematics courses. Academic departments have attempted to eliminate the boring factor by using texts with terminology and applications specific to the needs of their students. Thus, in addition to those general statistics courses traditionally offered by mathematics departments, one finds statistics courses for those majoring in engineering, education, psychology, business, health sciences, and agriculture, to name a few, not to mention those courses which have a major statistics component. Regardless of the level of and department in which the statistics course is offered, faculty may want to consider introducing data collection and analysis components to lecture-only courses and thereby help bridge the gap between in-class theory and real-world issues. As a result, students who complete the course will have a greater appreciation of the power and applications of statistics.

The mathematics department at Louisiana State University (LSUS) offers several statistics courses, two of which are offered every term. Early in the term, students are separated into student project groups, each of which elects a captain who is in charge of coordinating the group’s work. Although the groups have some flexibility in choosing a project topic, each project should be worthwhile, in that each group’s findings should be useful to some segment of the community, whether it be a business, industry, government agency, the students themselves, and in some cases, politicians running for office. Over the past four years, many projects have been completed, and while none have been specifically focused on engineering topics, several could have easily been extended to industrial engineering topics, such as quality control.

In this paper, the following points will be covered: (1) setting up and managing the student statistics project groups, including the reporting of results; (2) examples of past projects; (3) benefits to the students and to the community; and (4) working with the media in the reporting of student’s findings.

1. Setting Up and Managing the Student Project Groups

On the first day of class, the students are given an overview of the course in which the topics of data collection and student project groups are discussed. Examples of previous projects, both interesting and uninteresting, are given.

Within the first several weeks, students are assigned to groups of five, either randomly or alphabetically. An exception to this assignment procedure may be considered if one or more students are already involved in a data collection project outside of the statistics class. If so, they may be permitted to work together on this already-established project. Also, an exception may be made if a

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Link, W. C. (2000, June), Student Project Groups In Statistics Classes At Lsu Shreveport A Four Year Review Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8719