Improving student learning

It is the middle of summer. Temperatures are in the 90s and 100s. And here I am writing about my AP Statistics course.

This fall, I will embark on my third year teaching AP Statistics. I have not been generally pleased with the learning of my students in the first two years. A very low percentage of my students have passed the AP exam. I do not blame myself too much for these scores. My students thus far have not been terribly dedicated to this course. Senioritis interferes significantly.

But, there were some students that I think worked hard enough to get a three on the exam and fell short. I do think I provided ample opportunity for these students to succeed. I believe they had meaningful learning experiences that could have prepared them well for the exam.

I want better for them. I want to improve my course. Not just to improve AP scores. But to up the interest in the material and the course. I believe if students find the course more interesting, their learning will improve. I also want to make the material easier to access.

My first move is to start the year off with data gathering unit that will culminate in a questionnaire project. Working in pairs, students will design a questionnaire to gather data on an issue of their choice (such as abortion, immigration controls, the legalization of marijuana, etc.). The questionnaires will be distributed to the students and teachers at our school and the data we collect will be used throughout the year.

My second move is to increase the number of projects. Last year, there were four projects. The other main assessment I used was free response questions. So, this year, I am hoping to do six projects and reduce the number of free response questions.

I have been teaching a non-AP statistics course for many years now. That course has always been project-based. So, I have plenty of experience from which to draw. I am hopeful that project work will lead to deeper understanding.

Of course, today, one of our administrators wrote in an email to me that she hopes AP classes will be gone from our school in one or two years. That was a bit demotivating, but I owe it to my students to make the course better. Hopefully, that will be motivation enough.

Blackjack or Bust

Over three weeks in to the second semester and, unsurprisingly, the seniors in my AP Statistics course are finding it harder and harder to get motivated to do school. That means it’s time for some blackjack.

At Tuesday’s evening class, we dealt some cards, made some bets, and recorded lots of data. I have done a blackjack project several times now and it always grabs the students’ attention and interest. Some students learn the game for the first time while others learn the finer points such as splitting and doubling down. But all enjoy watching their piles of chips go up and down.

While they play, the students record such things as card values, number of hits, wins, losses, pushes, and busts. In groups, the students will then use the data to create their own examples that are meant to illustrate the various probability concepts we have studied thus far. These topics include conditional probability and independence, random variables, the binomial and geometric distributions, and sampling distributions. The groups are tasked with teaching their topics to their classmates. As a part of their presentation, a group will also provide a sample problem for everyone to try to solve.

I have come to strongly value students taking over class and teaching their peers. Explaining the intricacies of challenging mathematical ideas is not easy. And many students have anxiety about speaking in front of the class. But it is so worth it. From my experiences with these student presentations, I have seen my students gain deep understanding of the topics and I think the students appreciate having class led by someone other than their teacher. After reading Jo Boaler’s book, Mathematical Mindsets, I now know that research has shown that explaining work to others creates deep learning.

In addition to the presentation, students have the opportunity to collaborate with others. Group work is another prominent part of my classes. I think my favorite classes are when each group is humming along, discussing ideas, solving problems, checking each other’s answers, and helping one another increase their mathematical knowledge. It provides opportunities for students to explain ideas in a small group setting that might be easier than in front of the whole class. Once again Dr. Boaler notes in her book that the research backs the practice.

The project will give the students the opportunity to review many different ideas. I like the idea of doing review now, even though a little more than three months still remain before the AP exam. I want my students to engage with the material as many times as they can before May. I think it’s a bit silly to think that a student can really learn and understand a concept the first time they see it. The more times they try to reason through a binomial distribution problem, the more familiar they will become with the idea. I have taught random variables ten times now, and I am better this year with them than I was last year.

Finally, projects are such a refreshing change from the in-class timed tests. I like that my students get a chance to show what they know in a much different setting. They are not sitting, working alone, trying to remember when to use which formula. Rather, they are up, working with others, and they can look up information in their books, in their notes, and even on the internet. They can meet with me to talk about their project. The students can choose to spend many hours in preparation so that they can produce exactly the quality of project they want. I am going to try to see if I can test less next year and still prepare my students well for the AP exam. I believe it can be done. Do you? Anybody out there teach project-based AP Statistics course? I would love to hear about your experiences.

Projections and Senioritis

I had hoped to write weekly. I did that for nine weeks. Then, I lost momentum. I'm not sure why, but I expect it's not all that uncommon for new teaching blogs. You start out with a lot of enthusiasm, some good ideas to write about, and you're not too overloaded with work. Then steam runs out, work piles up, and ideas don't seem so fresh.

Tuesday is my blogging day. It says so on my calendar. I even have my calendar send me a nice email to remind me of that. Here it is Wednesday and I have not written a blog post since November 3. A month. And so, even though I am writing this without much of an idea of what I will write, I push the keys on my laptop hoping something worthwhile will end up coming out of this post.

My blogging statistics show that my posts gets anywhere from 12 to 26 views. I am sure that pales in comparison to many blogs, but I am honored that 12 to 26 people were taking their time to read my ramblings each week. I'm guessing my view count for this post will be lower because of my month off.

To be fair, I was out of town for a week in the middle of November, and then there was Thanksgiving. But, ideally, I would have written those weeks, too.

I have eleven more teaching days. AP Statistics will drop two of those days, so I have only nine more class meetings in 2015.

From where I sit, things have gone quite well this semester. Certainly, there is room for improvement, but I am pleased overall. We have covered about 40% of the AP Statistics curriculum. I made some projections based on the tests they have taken thus far and they are all on track for a three or better. Of my nine students, three of them currently project to a five, which certainly feels good to write.

Second semester will present new challenges. Seven of my nine are seniors. I would guess at least two of them will come down with a bad case of senioritis. That doesn't really bother me. I have been teaching seniors long enough to anticipate this and not take it personally. What concerns me is the potential negative impact they could have on the class as a whole.

For my non-AP Statistics class, I designed the second semester with the second semester senior in mind. I kept the workload light and we played blackjack, played craps, read the book "How to Lie with Statistics", and each student sold a product employing the artful use of statistics.

This year I have an AP Statistics class. Particularly since this is my first year teaching this course, I do not feel I can do the same projects. I expect the second semester workload will mirror the first semester, making senioritis a greater concern for me.

I will do what I can to fend it off. I will try to keep my energy up and do my best to incorporate several engaging activities that simultaneously teach the concepts and keep the interest of the students. But, ultimately, it is not me who will be taking an AP exam in May. The students will have to decide for themselves how hard they want to work and how important that three-hour exam is to them.

PS - If anybody can help me learn how to follow a Twitter StatsChat, I would greatly appreciate it. I have not yet figured that out.