Course Overview
Course Objectives
Reading the Text
Use of technology
Determination of your grade
Academic Integrity
Accommodations for disabilities
Class citizenship
Exceptions
| Instructor: | Thomas L. Scofield | Website: Email: Office: Hours: |
http://www.calvin.edu/~scofield scofield “AT” calvin “Dot” edu NH 281 subject to change (see my website) |
| Text: | The Basic Practice of Statistics (BPS), 4th Ed., by David S. Moore | ||
| Class meetings: | MWThF, 10:30-11:20 am, NH 295 (unless otherwise directed) | ||
|
Course Overview
Course Objectives
Reading the Text
Use of technology
Determination of your grade
|
Academic Integrity
Accommodations for disabilities
Class citizenship
Exceptions
|
Despite its relative youth, the field has assumed an important role in society today. Politicians use polls to tailor their messages, and short-term social studies to decide long-term policy. New drugs are approved for use only after experiments indicate some benefit with essentially no life-threatening risk. Business decisions are increasingly data-driven. Like it or not, the trend toward needing to back up one's argument with statistically-sound results is likely only to continue.
As Christians, if we take seriously the Reformed idea of working to help redeem Creation, then one way to equip ourselves for this task may very well be to learn the language and methods of statistics. At a minimum, this can help us to discern between good and poor statistical argument, insulating us from being swayed by the latter, while helping us not to cast aside the former too readily when the argument is counter to our own opinions. And, if you learn the methods well, you will improve your ability to discover relationships between variables on your own, and perhaps even help affect changes that make society better for all.
Homework (10%) will be assigned daily, and usually collected twice
per week. (See the class calendar for the
collection schedule.) Most of these assignments will be from the
textbook, but they may also include lab write-ups, use of materials
not found in your text, and the composition of a reflective essay.
You may submit these assignments to me in class on the due date, or
place them in the MATH 143 New Homework folder in the box outside
my office door at any time up until it is picked up by the grader, who
will not pick it up before 3 pm on the due date. Homework submitted
after the set has been taken will be considered late and not accepted.
Homework will be graded for correctness, and returned to the Graded
Homework folder outside my office, where you may pick it up at your
leisure. While some class time may be spent discussing problems before
they are due, you likely will find it necessary on occasion to collaborate
with classmates (click this link to read what
I see are the benefits of regular study groups, and how they ought to
function) and/or seek out the professor in his office.
Quizzes and three in-class exams will amount to
63% of your grade, and a cumulative final exam will count for 27%.
You are expected to take quizzes and exams on the days they are given.
(See the course calendar for their dates.)
If extraordinary circumstances arise (health problems, for
example), speak to me beforehand. Cheap airfares, early departures for
vacations and the like are not valid excuses for missing a quiz or exam at
its scheduled date and time.
If any part of an exam write-up is not your own,
or is the result of unauthorized access to information stored anywhere
in any form, the result on the first instance will be a score of zero.
A second occurrence will result in automatic failure of the course.
Please speak with me about problems or issues as they arise during
the semester. I am still growing as a teacher, and if you have
concerns, it is simply a matter of “building one another up”
that you should raise them in an appropriate moment, preferably
while adjustments may still be made that affect your class.
This page maintained by: Course Objectives
Reading the Text
You are expected to read assigned parts of the textbook.
While this book may be geared to a wide audience,
it still contains big ideas and is not for casual
reading. To get the most out of your reading, you must be
inquisitive as you carry it out. If you are not already
accustomed to reading technical books according to the
guidelines at this link,
be aware that it will, at least initially,
increase the amount of time you devote to
reading. At the same time, however, it very likely
will decrease the amount of time you spend scratching
your head on homework, and will assuredly help you
to get more out of the course. (It will probably improve
your grade as well, for those who need that incentive.)
Use of Technology
A good deal of computer use will be expected of you in this
course. Generally speaking, daily homework assignments are available
on the the web, and it is your responsibility to visit
the homework page to find out what they are.
A number of these assignments will require you to use the software
CrunchIt,
which is run through your web browser from the
url
http://bcs.whfreeman.com/crunchit/bps4e/.
While many announcements, hints, etc. may be given in
class, things that cannot wait until the next class period will be
sent to you as email messages. Thus, it is important that
you be checking your email at least once daily.
Grades
Academic Integrity
Concerning homework,
you may borrow someone's idea for solving a problem, but cite your
source (a classmate, peer, book—provide the usual bibliographic
information, website—provide the url, etc.). All assignments (except
for projects specifically assigned in groups) are to be written up
separately on your own, using your own words. Give as much attention
to presenting your solutions in a coherent manner (using mathematical
symbols as part of your sentence structure) as you give to actually
solving problems, as it is the explanation of each problem that is graded
(not simply the answer itself). Handing in another's writeup of any part
of an assignment will be considered an instance of academic
dishonesty (See Section
4.2.8 of the Faculty Handbook.), resulting in a zero for the
entire assignment.
Accommodations
Reasonable academic accomodations will be made for individuals with
documented disabilities. Any student who this concerns should
notify one of the Coordinators for Services for Students with
Disabilities located in the Student Academic Services office, HH 455.
That student should also meet with me during the first two weeks of
the semester to discuss academic accomodations.
Citizenship
The type of concentration required for mathematics/statistics calls
for a distraction-free environment. Please do your part to make
the classroom one conducive for learning by arriving on time, not
working on homework assignments during class, refraining from frivolous
talk, and actively participating in in-class discussions/activities.
Exceptions
I reserve the right to make changes or exceptions to course policies —
including those described in this document — either for the entire
class or for specific individuals. The ultimate goal in this course is
learning, and formal requirements should not unnecessarily stand in
the way of that. Thus, if you think that any of the conditions of the
course are interfering with learning, please speak with me about this,
and we will see what can be done.
Thomas L. Scofield
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Calvin College