December 2015 Science Journal

Feature Story
classrooms and shows students how statistics
applies in real life. As part of the Tombros Fellowship,
Lock Morgan has organized each class
and lab to focus on answering a relevant scientific
question, hoping to emphasize that statistics
is an important tool in science. Several of these
datasets and questions come from researchers in
the biological sciences at Penn State, in an effort
to give students an idea for how statistics may
be used in their own departments. Additionally,
she embraces innovative teaching methods,
such as active learning and the use of learning
assistants, to get students more engaged in class
and the learning process. In STAT 250, Lock
Morgan requires
students to use the
i>clicker system.
The use of clickers
in the classroom
encourages more
class interaction
and discussion, leading to better understanding
and information retention.
Revising course content and changing pedagogical
strategies not only helps with conceptual
understanding, but improves student problemsolving
abilities and their transfer of learning.
Trying different approaches often leads to better
understanding and helps students learn better.
Teamwork Approach
Lock Morgan, Pearl, and Matt Beckman, who
will be joining the statistics faculty in January
2016, all recognize the need train high school
teachers and better prepare students to use
and understand statistics before they go to college.
“Matt will provide a terrific boost to Penn
State’s growing stature as a center for statistics
education expertise,” said David Hunter, head
of the Department of Statistics. “Even before officially
starting at Penn State, he has already
gotten involved as a co-principal investigator on
a statistics education grant proposal with Kari
and Dennis.”
Beckman is a Penn State graduate himself,
having earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics
in 2006, along with a Pennsylvania certification
in secondary mathematics teaching.
He later earned a master’s degree in statistics
“...I’M ESPECIALLY PROUD OF THE WORK WE’RE
DOING TO CONTINUALLY IMPROVE THE TEACHING
WE DO IN THE STATISTICS DEPARTMENT. ”
from the University of Minnesota, and since
that time he has been working as a practicing
biostatistician and statistical consultant, while
simultaneously completing a doctorate in statistics
education, working with two leading experts
in that field.
Together, the statistics trio is working on a
NSF proposal to improve outreach and teacher
training. Their goal is to help students be better
prepared for statistics by improving how it
is taught in high schools, while also refining
the content and taking advantage of computing
technology. The Common Core State Standards
in Mathematics recognize both the increased
importance of statistics and the intuitive benefit
of introducing inference via the simulation
methods enabled by computers, so the team
aims to prepare teachers to teach more statistics
and teach it in this conceptual way, particularly
because many teachers will not have seen
this approach, even if they have taken a statistics
courses. “It’s fantastic that high schools are
aiming to teach more statistics, and very exciting
that the Common Core is promoting the use
of simulation methods. We want to do what we
can to help make this happen!” Lock Morgan
said.
It’s no surprise that with passionate and motivated
faculty, and resourceful, dedicated staff,
the Department of Statistics is becoming a wellknown
leader in statistics education. “Statistical
literacy has always been a vital component of a
broad scientific education, and it is all the more
so in today's era of 'big data'. This fact makes
the educational mission of our department more
important than ever; and Penn State statistics
has such a huge footprint not only in Pennsylvania
but beyond the Commonwealth through
our World Campus programs that we are wellpositioned
to play a strong leadership role in the
practice of statistics education. In this context,
I’m especially proud of the work we’re doing to
continually improve the teaching we do in the
statistics department. Adding experts like Kari,
Dennis, and soon, Matt to our faculty not only
enhances our day-to-day teaching but ensures
that Penn State will remain at the cutting edge
of research in statistics education,” said Hunter.
The outstanding research, resource, and educational
improvements would not be possible
without support and collaboration. Staff members
have been essential in helping the faculty,
department, and even CAUSE function on a
daily basis. Hunter, Pearl, Lock Morgan, and
the rest of the statistics faculty recognize the
important roles that the statistics staff perform
A CARTOON SUITABLE FOR USE IN TEACHING
the idea that association does not imply
causation. Free to use in the classroom
and on course web sites under a creative
commons attribution-non-commercial 2.5
license.
Credit: The cartoon is number 552 from the webcomic
series at xkcd.com created by Randall Munroe.
in helping them to achieve their objectives and
in elevating the department stature.
“Moving CAUSE from Dennis’s previous home
of Ohio State here to Penn State in 2014 was a
highly complex task. We’ve hired two additional
staff members, half of whose time is devoted
to CAUSE-related tasks. Lorey Burghard
joined our department in December 2014 and
serves as CAUSE’s program coordinator, and
Bob Carey came on board in May 2015 to support
CAUSE’s IT presence. Meanwhile, Kathy
Smith, who was already on our staff, took on a
huge additional workload almost from the day
Dennis joined Penn State to tackle the Herculean
task of moving the web hosting for CAUSE
from Ohio State to Penn State. There’s so much
overlap now between the statistics department’s
various missions and CAUSE’s mission that our
newly enlarged staff has worked seamlessly into
the life of the department. So we have CAUSE
to thank not only for increased visibility in the
statistics education community but for some excellent
new staff hires as well!” Hunter noted.
Teamwork has a been a key compon ent for
the successes that the statistics department
has achieved. By using an inclusive approach,
the department has been able to make great
strides in improving statistics education
through collaboration in resources, teaching,
and learning.
22 Penn State Eberly College of Science SCIENCE JOURNAL December 2015
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