Using Statistical Tools toTeach High School Science

&Mathematics

By Steve DeckardJohn PantanaScott Watson

Liberty University

The teacher asked, " Can you give me a good example of how heat expands things and cold contracts them?""Well," one alert pupil answered, "the days are much longer in summer.''

Error Messages

Microsoft is trying to add some humor to its error messages in Windows 2000 and up. Here are a couple of examples:

Printer not responding; Got a pen and paper handy?

3 things are certain in life: Taxes, death, and data loss. Guess which has occurred?

Some Things to Ponder

Menu Driven & point and click

Tradeoff in statistical software between its "ease of learning" and

its "power".

FathomDataDesk

SASSPSS

SPLUS or R

XLIPSTAT

Review of Software Packages for teaching High School Statistics

great number of powerful and fast statistical tools as well as data management capabilities.  

Middle Ground ARC

MiniTabEcel - Megastat

High Scorers

On Ease of UseCharacteristics

Fathom Predominantly a teaching tool. No ANOVA or multiple regression.  Easy-to-use simulation is

animation. Contains many features that make this possibly the first-choice for classroom

demonstrations.  Runs on PC and Mac (Classic). OSX version is in the works.

http://www.keycollege.com/catalog/titles/fathom.html     

DataDesk DataDesk can also be bundled with ActivStats, in which case it becomes a fairly complete textbook/software package.  ActivStats is a wonderful reference book/self-guided learning tool.  

http://www.datadesk.com/

Chart One

Arc user-friendly (i.e. menu-driven) package.  ARC does one thing very, very well:  linear regression.  In fact, more of linear regression than you probably thought existed.  It was developed to support a book: Applied Regression Including Computing and Graphics, R. Dennis Cook and Sanford Weisberg, 1999 John Wiley & Sons.  This is a wonderful book, but somewhat beyond the High School level. Still, you might enjoy it.  The software is free and runs on PCs and Macs (but not OSX).

Minitab - I have limited direct experience with this one. However, I know it's fairly easy to learn and fairly comprehensive.  It has been around for awhile and so has an established track record. It can also be bundled with ActivStats.  Not sure whether it runs on Macs, though.

Version 14.2 is most recentMinitab.com

Middle of the Road Packages

The following enhancements and design changes have been made to MINITAB 14.2:

Users may now edit strings, delete rows or columns, and assign different fonts to header and body text in legends and tables in graphs. For example, users can remove statistics from tables in a capability analysis graph.

1. The ability to drag and edit Pie Chart slice labels is now available.

2. Two new graph file formats, GIF (a raster format) and enhanced metafile (a vector format), have been added.

3. The Chi Square Goodness of Fit – Single Categorical Variable feature provides a way of testing whether a categorical data set follows a multinomial distribution with certain proportions.

4. Chi Square Goodness of Fit – Poisson Distribution functionality is now available to test whether a data set follows a Poisson distribution.

MegaStat – Statistical Software for ExcelIncludes:

Creates output sheets with formatted outputAutoExpand feature allows for quick data selectionAutomatic detection of data labelsCompletely separate from Excel’s Data Analysis Tools (The Data Analysis add-in does not have to be installed)MegaStat corrects several computational problems with Excel and Data analysis Tools.Computations involving factorials can handle factorials in excess of 1,000,000The Stepwise Selection procedure provides a powerful new alternative to traditional stepwise regression

http://blue.butler.edu/~orris/MegaStat_download/Promo2.pdf

Middle of the Road Packages

Chart Two: More Powerful Packages

Greater Power Characteristics

SPSSWe will demonstrate this one

SAS Popular professional package. Everything and the kitchen sink.

 Command-driven; type in the right phrase to invoke the appropriate

package, & it provides output.  Powerful data management capabilities.  Difficult

to learn. Doesn't run on Macs.

Stata

Similar to SAS.  Runs on Macs & PCs. Slightly easier to learn than SAS. Less

variety, still far beyond the concerns of

high school statistics. som

Chart Two (Continued): More Powerful Packages

Greater

Power Additional Characteristics

SPSS

SPSS.com

Very expensive – lots of support

http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/spss/

SAS hthttp://www.sas.com/

Business orientedtp://w

Stata

stata.com

Statiscal Software for professionals

Stata/SE 9 network with Complete Documentation Set N QuantityCost2 $1295.00For 3 – 5+350.00each6 – 10+320.00each11 – 15+270.00each16 – 25+255.00each26 – 50+195.00each51++175.00each

Examples of Cost for Stats packages

Minitab PricingNumber of copies Price per unit copy1 $11952-10 $99511-20 $89521+ $795

How would we go about this?

Paying for the stats package I need?Free packages and materialshttp://www.statsci.org/free.htmlhttp://gsociology.icaap.org/methods/soft.htmlt.html

Can purchase most of these packages as individual licensesBe careful using E-bay.For SPSS and other professional packages the full version is not needed for high school statistics Purchase the student version – sometimes called the grad pak$45-$99It is limited to 50 by 50 spread sheet (variables limited to 50) Should not be a problem for High School basic statsFree, but... "demonstration" or "student versions" of commercial packages; can be freely downloaded, but are usually restricted or limited in some way.

A few Cautions

http://www.statsoftinc.com/textbook/stathome.htmlElectronic textbookRight hand menu:Basic statsStatistical advisorElementary ConceptsGlossary

Important Website