IPS - Day 1

The posts referencing IPS refer to my Inferential Probability and Statistics (IPS) class. My IPS web site describes the course and provides summaries daily lessons with lesson slides.

In this blog I will be re-capping some of the days activities and my reflections on the lessons.

The first day was devoted to conveying a sense of what statistics is about, what will be covered in class, and how the class will work. The Ted video I show lets students know that seemingly simple probability problems do not result in the obvious answer. The disease example and the trial evidence example get students thinking about the ideas about what happens randomly. I am actually able to relate a personal experience similar to the video's trial example.

The idea of what do random events look like and how does actual data compare to expectations of what randomness looks like will be a recurring theme throughout the course. The first unit covers probability and simulations, building the foundation of what randomness should look like.