You might prefer the version at
http://www.tc3.edu/instruct/sbrown/stat12a/outline.htm
because the underlining you see in
print becomes active links on line.
You might prefer the version at
http://www.tc3.edu/instruct/sbrown/stat12a/outline.htm
because the underlining you see in
print becomes active links on line.
| Course | MATH200, Statistics (3 credits), section ME50, Spring 2012 |
|---|---|
| Instructor | Stan Brown |
| Browns@tc3.edu
(When sending email, please include your first and last name.) | |
| Office hours | 5:30–6:30 PM Tuesdays, room 224 |
| Office location | room 122 |
| Class hours | T 6:30–9:20, room 224, plus final exam (see schedule) |
| Web site | http://www.tc3.edu/instruct/sbrown/stat12a/ |
The original Course Outline is still on line.
Contents:
From https://myinfo.tc3.edu/SelfService/Search/CatalogDetails.aspx?CourseCode=MATH200 (accessed 2011-08-09):
A study of the application of statistical procedures to the analysis of experimental data. Topics covered include methods of presentation of data, measures of central tendency and dispersion, sampling techniques, elementary probability, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals on both one and two populations, and linear regression and correlation. Use of the binomial, the normal, the student’s T, and the chi-square distributions are covered. A TI-83, TI-83 plus, or TI-84 graphing calculator is required. MATH 200 fulfills the SUNY General Education Mathematics requirement.
Prerequisites: C or better grade in MATH 100 or equivalent, and prior completion or concurrent enrollment in ENGL 100. 3 Cr.
Statistics is more than a body of knowledge: it is a way of thinking. In this course you will learn to think critically about real-life situations, and you will gain tools to help you distinguish truth from falsehood.
From http://www.tc3.edu/mcs/MCSdisplay.asp?cid=MATH200 (accessed 2011-08-09):
You will:
- recognize basic definitions pertaining to statistics, and various sampling procedures.
- be able to collect, organize, and present data. This is descriptive statistics.
- be able to construct linear regression lines and interpret the information from both the linear regression line and the linear correlation.
- have an understanding of basic probability concepts.
- be able to apply [your] knowledge of basic probability to the binomial distribution and the normal distribution.
- be able to recognize the concepts of sample variability and how they apply to hypothesis testing.
- be able to determine the appropriate hypothesis test for the given information. The tests include one or two populations involving numeric data, and one or two populations involving attribute data. The distributions involved are the normal and the student’s t.
- understand the use of the multinomial experiment which requires the chi-square distribution.
- demonstrate in review sessions and on exams that [you] have attained each of the prior [eight] objectives.
All three campuses have computers with Web access for your use, and so do most public libraries. If using the Web is a hardship for you, please talk to me about it.
(“Class Modalities/Alternative Learning Strategies”)
The primary source is your textbook and the handouts I provide. On the Web page is a Guide for each chapter, to help you see what is important and to cover a few items that aren’t in your textbook. You will need to read and study one chapter a week and do assigned problems. This will be supplemented during class time by lecture, discussion, videos, practice labs, and quizzes. Outside of class, you will also practice with several labs and a field project.
If video helps you learn, check out the Against All Odds series in the media center. I can help you sort out which part is relevant to which chapter of the textbook. The video doesn’t replace the textbook, but its very different approach may help you understand the main concepts better.
Many people these days are used to multitasking. Please leave that behind when you enter the classroom. You may think you can multitask and still follow what’s going on, but that’s a misconception. In fact, multitasking hurts your learning. One widely cited study showing this was by Helene Hembrooke and Geri Gay of Cornell: “The laptop and the lecture: The effects of multitasking in learning environments” (Journal of Computing in Higher Education, Fall 2003, 15(I):–46).
You’re in class to learn. I don’t ban multitasking out of some desire to spoil your fun, but because studies show that when you try to multitask you don’t learn as well. The class should always have your full attention.
“Backgrounding” problems include making or answering a cell-phone call, texting, IMing, emailing, Web browsing, logging on to Facebook, playing games, wearing headphones, reading non-class materials, and so forth. Such activities will cost you your professional-conduct points for that session, and I may ask you to leave the room.
I do believe that electronic devices used intelligently can help some students (not all) absorb the course material better, just as they help me present it better. Therefore, I allow you to take notes on a laptop, record lectures on an iPhone, and so forth, as long as you do it in a way that does not distract others.
If class-related electronic activities are distracting to others (your fellow students or me), you may be asked to stop the distraction. There is no penalty for a first occurrence.
Please see the separate Schedule and Assignments for readings and assignments with due dates.
On all written work — homework, labs and projects, quizzes, and exams — you must show your work to receive credit. That means writing down any equations, formulas, or TI-83/84 commands that you use, moving to your solution in logical steps. If you omit your computations, I’ll write WTCF (Where’d This Come From?) and deduct points even for a correct answer. See the Web page Show Your Work! under Handouts » Chapter 1 for more information.
When handing in a lab or project, staple the pages in order. Paper clips and other insecure fasteners are not acceptable.
You’ll get your graded papers back at the next class after you hand them in. If you miss that class, ask for your paper when you return. Unless you make other arrangements, unclaimed papers may be destroyed after two class meetings.
Would you expect to play great basketball after just reading about it and listening to lectures? Of course not, and math is no different. The only way to learn math is to work problems. If you don’t do the homework you’ll probably bomb the quiz, and you’ll have trouble understanding the next lecture.
Always check your answers. Most assigned problems have answers in your book. Whenever your answer doesn’t match, figure out why, get help if you need it, and fix what’s wrong. See How to Work a Math Problem.
Since class time for homework questions is very limited, it’s vital to get most of your questions answered before coming to class. The Baker Center has in-person help and live chat, or you can email me. The Baker Center also has a copy of the textbook and full solutions manual available for your use.
Since you can check your own answers, and since blowing off the homework carries built-in penalties, I don’t usually collect homework problems from the textbook.
You may need to work more problems than just those listed in the schedule. How do you know? If you have trouble with a problem, you need to do more problems like that one.
The course includes several labs that give you a chance to gather and analyze data. You’ll also pick a question that interests you and do a statistics field project to investigate it.
Expect a quiz at every class. (It’s a smart move to prepare with the chapter’s practice quiz from the class Web page and check the online solutions.) Each quiz will be drawn from recent class work, readings, and homework. I might decide to give a quiz as a take-home, or collect a homework assignment and count it as a quiz.
We’ll have a final exam after the last class, on a date to be announced.
If your quiz average (not counting your two lowest) after the Chapter 12 quiz is 87% or better, you may opt out of the final exam. In this case your grade will be calculated the same as everyone else’s but with the final exam excluded.
You’ll need your calculator on most quizzes and exams, and pencil and eraser (not pen) on all of them. Because calculators can recall stored operations, you may not share a calculator during quizzes or exams.
For each quiz and exam, you may create and use a crib sheet or “cheat sheet”. This can contain anything you like, in any format, on the front and back of one U.S. letter-size sheet of paper, as long as you create it yourself and don’t just copy or borrow it from another source. For the Chapter 9 quiz through the final exam, you may also use the Inferential Statistics: Basic Cases handout.
Please see the separate Schedule and Assignments.
| possible points | |
|---|---|
| Quizzes and homework, 15 each | about 165 |
| Labs to do at home | 110 |
| Field project | 100 |
| Final exam (if taken) | 120 |
| Professional conduct and attitude | 45 |
| Total | about 540 |
Extra credit can be used to raise a passing grade, as follows:
You can download an Excel spreadsheet or print a paper worksheet to track your grade.
Please feel free to discuss your progress with me at any time. If you’re not doing as well as you want to, it will be less painful to catch up sooner than later.
Students sometimes ask for extra-credit assignments to bolster a poor grade, but I don’t believe in them. Your efforts should all be toward doing well in the core of the subject.
For each letter grade, you must earn at least the indicated percentage of possible points:
| A | 93% | A− | 90% | B+ | 87% | B | 83% | B− | 80% | C+ | 77% |
| C | 73% | C− | 70% | D+ | 67% | D | 63% | D− | 60% | F | <60% |
If your performance on the final exam is substantially better than on the quizzes, I will give the final exam extra weight. However, if you score 45% or lower on the final exam, you probably haven’t mastered the material adequately, and I may record a final grade of F.
You can get your letter grade through myTC3/myInfo within about 48 hours after the final exam.
It’s a great idea to study together and even to discuss assignments with classmates. However, the College and I require that any written work you turn in must be your own. If you discuss an assignment with classmates, you still need to do the assignment yourself, not simply copy someone else’s paper. This is the only way you or I can be sure you’ve actually learned the material.
All violations are reported to the Provost and Vice President of the College. The penalty at a minimum will be a zero on the assignment and may range up to expulsion from the College.
Please see the College Statement of Academic Integrity and the Procedures for Handling Academic Infractions.
Homework problems from your textbook are not usually collected, but if they are then they count as a quiz. The makeup policy is the same as for quizzes, immediately below.
If you’re not in class for the quiz, I record a zero. There are no makeups, and you can’t turn in anything else as a substitute. To allow for emergencies, medical or religious reasons, or any other reason for missing class, your two lowest quiz scores won’t count in your final grade. These “freebies” are not in addition to valid excuses; they allow for valid excuses.
If you expect to miss the exam, discuss it with me a reasonable time in advance by email or in person. If you miss the exam unexpectedly, through circumstances beyond your control, discuss the situation with me as soon as possible by email or in person. You’ll be asked for documentation on letterhead including a phone number, such as a doctor’s note or a tow-truck receipt.
Any opportunity to take an exam at a different time will be at my discretion. You’ll have a different exam from the class — I won’t make it harder on purpose, but I can’t guarantee that it won’t be.
I collect these at the start of class on the due date. If you turn in a lab or other assignment after the start of class, I deduct 10% of the possible points. I do this to discourage you from waiting till the last minute and then missing part of class to complete the assignment. However, on nights when there is a quiz at the beginning of class, there will be a 10-minute grace period before the 10% penalty kicks in.
If you turn in the assignment after class, but before the start of the next class, I deduct 30% of the possible points. After the start of the next class, I will not accept it at all.
If you know you’ll miss class when a lab or project is due, you can give it to me early, send it with a trusted person to be turned in on time, or put it in my folder in room 122. If you leave a paper in my folder, have a staff person timestamp it; otherwise it may count as late.
You can also email your assignment. Use plain text, .PDF, .RTF, ,DOC, or .XLS format (no PowerPoint). If the attachment is unreadable I will let you know and give you a chance to resubmit it, but the assignment doesn’t count as turned in until I receive it in readable form.
Extensions: If you are prevented from completing the assignment or attending class by unpredictable circumstances beyond your control, please let me know what is going on, in person or by email, as soon as possible and preferably before it is due. Extensions will be granted at my discretion, and I may require evidence such as a doctor’s note or tow-truck receipt.
No extension will be given for situations within your control or for situations that were reasonably predictable. For example, a major accident that closes Route 13 is not predictable and might be a valid excuse for turning in an assignment after the start of class, but routine traffic congestion is predictable. Family responsibilities, activities for school sports and other classes, and the like are all part of ordinary life, and managing all your responsibilities is part of being in college.
“To maintain good grades, regular attendance in class is necessary. Absence from class is considered a serious matter, and absence never excuses a student from class work.”
—approved by CAPCOM on 8 March 1994
Math courses have been called “relentlessly cumulative”, meaning that each class builds on the work of previous classes. That’s especially true with this class that meets once a week. Most students find that when they miss even one class, they have a hard job to catch up on what they missed.
Therefore, attendance doesn’t count directly in your grade. You’re an adult, and I expect you to use your head and not miss unnecessarily. When you are truly sick (especially when contagious), or if weather makes the roads too dangerous, stay home. This is one reason for the “freebie” quizzes: your physical safety and health are paramount.
If you expect to miss class, let me know in advance; if you miss class unexpectedly, let me know the situation as soon as possible afterward. After an absence, I count you as “attending” again after you attend a full class and turn in any missed work.
When you miss class for any reason, look at your schedule and check the class Web site for any announcements. Be sure to make your own copies of that week’s handouts. It’s your job to learn the material that you missed — see the Web page Help! for resources. I’ll answer questions for you as I would for any student, but I won’t teach the class a second time for you.
If you miss two classes in a row, or three in any six-week period, you’ll probably have a hard time catching up, and for that reason you may be administratively withdrawn from the class (grade of AW). Administrative withdrawal may have academic and financial implications. If you are administratively withdrawn from a course, you will not be eligible for a tuition refund for that course. You’re encouraged to contact your advisor and the Financial Aid office to determine the specific implications for your progress at TC3.
If you miss too many classes for any reason, think seriously about withdrawing.
You’re expected to be in your seat by the time class starts and remain in your seat throughout the class. (We have a break around the midpoint.) Arriving late or leaving during class distracts other students and will cost you points for professional conduct.
If you have a medical condition that keeps you from sitting through class, please let me know privately — otherwise be in your seat for the whole class. (Translation: go to the rest room before class, not during.)
As always, your safety is important. If you are running late, be late rather than drive recklessly. If you have a job or other responsibilities that make you late or require you to leave early, please discuss the situation with me in advance.
If weather, health emergency, or similar reasons force the College to cancel evening classes, the decision will be posted on the College Web site www.tc3.edu (not necessarily the course Web site) by 3:00 PM and communicated to local radio and TV stations. You’ll be texted if you’ve signed up for that service. You can also call 607-844-8222 for a recorded message.
If the College is closed or class canceled for any reason, do that evening’s work on your own. Any written assignment will be due at the next class meeting. Any scheduled quiz will either be held at the next class meeting, or posted on the Web for completion as a take-home quiz due at the next class meeting; I’ll announce it in email and on the class Web page. Later assignments will keep the original schedule unless an announcement is made on the course Web page www.tc3.edu/instruct/sbrown/stat12a/.
The College reserves the right to schedule additional class time to compensate for time lost owing to canceled classes.
You’re in college. I expect you to act like a responsible adult and like the professional you are training to be.
Allow enough time for your course work. The College guideline for this course is around 6–9 hours a week on average, in addition to class time. You may need more time or less. Use Your To-Do List, handed out the first day, as a checklist for your work between classes.
I expect you to show a professional attitude to your studies. For example:
For every class meeting in which you meet these expectations you’ll earn 3 points.
If you interfere with the learning of others, I may ask you to leave the classroom. If you repeatedly disrupt the learning process, the dean may remove you from the course. Please refer to the College’s Student Code of Conduct.
Email is a great way to communicate between class sessions, and I encourage you to use it to ask me questions, let me know when you miss class, and so on. I’ll respond within 24 hours, usually within 12 hours or less. Please be aware that if you email me after noon on class day I probably won’t see your message till after class.
When emailing me, please include your first and last name. If you’re asking about a problem in the textbook, please include the page number and problem number, with as much information as possible about just where you’re getting stuck.
With outside email there’s no way to verify your identity. Therefore, any discussion of grades or other confidential information must come from your TC3 email account. Federal law and College policy don’t allow me to discuss confidential information with any non-TC3 email account, so please don’t ask. You can use any email account for other matters such as questions about assignments.
Periodically I send reminders and announcements to the whole class. Please check your TC3 email frequently so that you see them. (They are also on the class Web page.) You can forward your TC3 email to another account, but you still have to log in to your TC3 email once in 180 days, or it will stop working.
I strongly recommend a study group of two to four people. Form one early in the course, before anyone gets overwhelmed, and meet regularly.
The Baker Center has statistics tutors. Again, you’ll get the most benefit if you start going before you get overwhelmed.
See also Help!
The College provides reasonable accommodation to students with disabilities that may affect their ability to participate fully in course activities or meet course requirements. Please contact Carolyn Boone, Coordinator of Access and Equity Services, in the Baker Commons at 844-8222 x 4283 or boonec@tc3.edu to discuss your needs. All course material is available in alternative formats on request.
“I know not how to aid you, save in the assurance of one of mature age, and much severe experience, that you can not fail, if you resolutely determine, that you will not.”
—Abraham Lincoln, 22 Jul 1860
Let’s talk turkey. To do well in this course, you need to be organized, plan your time well, study your notes and handouts outside class, finish all the homework, and pay attention to directions. You don’t have to be a math whiz — good work habits count for more than native math ability. If you want to do well, you’ll do the work. If you don’t, you’re just wasting time.
Most students who fail the course fail it because they let the work pile up. It’s easy to do with a once-a-week course, and it’s fatal. So if you have issues with time management, get help now from the Student Success office. Time management skills are crucial to your success in college.
TC3 is a learning-centered institution. The faculty are here to help you, but learning is your job. Gibbon said it well, over two centuries ago: “the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.” In modern English: the teachers’s pretty useless if the student doesn’ do the work of learning.
You need to study the textbook and handouts on your own: we won’t have time to go through everything in class. Get out there and grab knowledge by the scruff of the neck — don’t just sit in your seat and hope it oozes into your brain. Have a question? Dig for the answer! Part of college is learning to find information on your own when possible — and it’s usually possible.
The Web page How to Succeed in Math gives you lots of tips on studying, taking tests, and so forth. A study group will be a huge help to you: form it early and meet regularly. You’ve got many further sources of assistance — use them!
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.”
—Abraham Lincoln, 5 Nov 1855
This page is used in instruction at Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, New York; it’s not an official statement of the College. Please visit www.tc3.edu/instruct/sbrown/ to report errors or ask to copy it.
For updates and new info, go to http://www.tc3.edu/instruct/sbrown/stat12a/