Statistics Week 5

This week, I had one of those nice moments when you get to see exactly how far you've come in the last few years.  I remember looking at WINSS as part of my undergrad, and not really understanding what any of it meant.  Oh, I looked at the charts and pretended I knew, but it was all Greek to me, really.  It was nice to look back now that I've had a little experience in the classroom, and a better understanding of statistics through this course.  In my undergrad, I remember thinking, "Why would anyone really take the time to look through all of this?"  As we took the scenario of a parent looking at a potential school district, though, it had lots of information that I would absolutely want to see.  It makes me wonder if schools that are performing well may try to educate local parents on how to find and use that information.  With all the mixed feelings about districts publishing test results for students categorized by teacher, bringing multiple data sets into the conversation might help.  Or at least make it complicated enough that it doesn't fit neatly into a short news segment anymore.

Google Trends was another interesting tool.  I didn't immediately see how I would use it in my classroom, but it's one of those things I'll keep in Diigo and in the back of my mind.  It could make for some data in a compare/contrast or persuasive essay.

On an unrelated tangent (which is kind of becoming the norm for me, lately), I've been trying this year to get my kids to Google more effectively.  I teach them about identifying key words, and some simple Boolean logic, but it seems every time I turn my back, they just go right back to typing in questions in complete sentences.  (The irony, of course, is that's the only time I can get them to write a complete sentence, it seems.)  I tried the Google Game with one class, but a lot of them found it counter-intuitive- "Why would I want less information?"  It's kind of a chore, but I think effective searching and analysis of website validity is something that will be more and more valuable in years to come.  The tough part is that a lot of information on websites that don't pass the smell test is still true, and I don't want to entirely cut off message boards and other forms of information just because they are sometimes wrong.  Unfortunately, with a movement towards short, quick projects instead of months-long research papers, it's difficult to show kids how to filter information effectively.  As of right now, I have no good answer for this.  /rant