In-Class Materials Available to CourseKata Teachers
While the online textbooks are a core part of the CourseKata program, a variety of in-class materials are available to support implementation in the classroom, whether that classroom is live or virtual.
The goal of the in-class activities is to support students as they deepen their understanding and connect what they are learning to the routines of data analysis in the real world: exploring variation, creating statistical models to explain variation, and evaluating those models.
A Variety of Materials with a Single Goal: Practicing Connections
Every class is different but the goal is the same: to give students time during class to practice the connections that will lead to flexible, transferable knowledge of statistics concepts, tools, and procedures. The in-class materials are designed to foster this process through small-group and whole-class activities that give students opportunities to explain how concepts relate to each other and to problems in data analysis; translate ideas from one representation to another; and apply what they are learning in a wide variety of contexts.
Students feel empowered when they find they can analyze real data. CourseKata provides a library of in-class lessons, in the form of Jupyter notebooks, each including a rich data set and a structured sequence of data analysis challenges. Topics range from biology (the lifespan of the eye fluke) to psychology (the effects of praise on students’ motivation to learn) to economics (the relationship between countries' gross domestic product (GDP) and the happiness of their citizens).
Students love being able to collect data themselves, and we provide a number of simple activities that result in fruitful opportunities for data analysis. How long can you stand on your left leg while blindfolded? It turns out this is a predictor of longevity among older adults. Students record each other’s times and analyze the variation. (The world record, by the way, is 2 hours and 21 minutes!)
CourseKata is not all about working on computers with R. CourseKata provides a number of active-learning activities designed to engage students in thinking and learning from each other without using a screen. Activities include drawing, embodied learning, and guided notes to accompany teacher-led presentations in which the teacher uses Jupyter while students participate in other ways.
CourseKata provides a number of project-based assessments, in the form of Jupyter notebooks, that can be used as end-of-chapter assessments of what students have learned. CourseKata also has a Data Analysis Report notebook that provides a template for student-initiated projects, as well as a rubric for scoring student data analysis projects. Data Analysis Reports provide a comprehensive way for students to report the results of their capstone projects.
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Gain access to a library of resources, such as syllabi and in-class materials shared by other educators, that will help you imagine what it’s like to use CourseKata in your classroom.
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