Student Passions Drive Statistics Education
By: Jana Talley, Co-Editor of DUE Point, Jackson State University
Passion-Driven Statistics is a project-based model for statistics education that consists of online data science courses, instructional videos, student projects, and support resources for implementation. Traditional statistics education assigns rigidly defined scenarios to students in the absence of any real opportunities to make decisions or learn how to tell meaningful and accurate stories with data. In contrast, the Passion-Driven Statistics curriculum materials engage students in authentic projects with large, real-world data sets.
Q: Tell us about your project.
Using real world data sets, students are trained to use the data collection, analysis, and interpretation skills necessary to address questions within the context of ideas they are passionate about. Students ask questions like:
Is exposure to a drug use prevention curriculum associated with lower rates of experimentation with diverse substances?
Are religious adolescents less likely to be depressed?
What factors predict ‘safe sex’ practices?
These types of student-posed questions frame learning activities at project sites across the country. As students engage in productive struggle in the context of their own original research, the project site instructors and peer mentors are available to support each student individually.
Q: How will the teaching and learning of statistics be better off as a result of your project?
The model, in varying forms, has been successfully implemented across a variety of courses and academic institutions. By making statistics and data science education substantially more accessible and relevant, this model is poised to have a broad impact on the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented students majoring in STEM fields. This creates a larger, more gender and ethnically-balanced population of scholars who are needed to communicate across industry sectors, disciplines, and audiences.
Not only are the students diverse, but the collection of project instructors represents liberal arts colleges, large state universities, regional colleges and universities, community colleges, medical schools and even high schools. This further broadens opportunities for various groups of teachers and learners to engage in the context-focused activities of the Passion-Driven Statistics project.
Q: What have you learned so far in this project? What’s the biggest change/adjustment you’ve had to make?
It has been exciting to see research results that allow us to evaluate our model. We have found that the curriculum attracts higher rates of under-represented minority students compared to a traditional statistics course. Additionally, students enrolled in Passion-Driven Statistics are more likely to report increased confidence in working with data and increased interest in pursuing advanced statistics coursework.
In new research, currently under review, we found that the project-based curriculum also promoted further training in statistics. Compared to students taking either psychology statistics courses or mathematics statistics courses, we’ve seen that students originally enrolled in Passion-Driven Statistics were significantly more likely to take at least one additional undergraduate course focused on statistical concepts, applied data analysis, and/or use of statistical software.
Unfortunately, transitioning to a fully project-based model has proven to be daunting for some instructors. To address this, our model can be adjusted to shorter projects requiring only a few weeks within a traditional semester course. Our team also provides individualized support to each project site that includes instructional workshops and student mentoring.
Q: Tell us about someone impacted by the project.
One of our project sites selected the Passion Driven Statistics curriculum after deciding to incorporate an active learning approach to training students in the use of statistical software, conducting data analysis, and interpreting results. When describing her experience with the project the course instructor stated “... It was one of my favorite classes to teach. There is a sense of teamwork and support that really allows students to relax and focus on learning rather than chasing a grade”. She went on to explain that the seniors who complete the Passion Driven Statistics course as sophomores demonstrate exceptional skills in data science research activities.
Q: How can other instructors get involved?
Instructors can explore resources like a free e-book for a flipped classroom and translation code for the major platforms of statistical software by visiting https://passiondrivenstatistics.com/. We are currently in the second year of a 5-year NSF grant aimed at nationwide dissemination of the model. If you are interested in learning more about the project or attending one of several faculty workshops, contact Lisa Dierker at ldierker@wesleyan.edu.
Learn more about NSF DUE (Award #): #1323084
Full Project Name: Passion-Driven Statistics: A multidisciplinary project-based supportive model for statistical reasoning and application
Abstract Link: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1323084&HistoricalAwards=false
Project Contact: Lisa Dierker, ldierker@wesleyan.edu or Jennifer Rose, jrose01@wesleyan.edu
*Responses in this blog were edited for length and clarity.
Jana Talley is a co-editor of DUE Point and an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Jackson State University. Her work is focused on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education (RUME) and the inclusion of underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences.