While looking for an inexpensive technology package to help students in statistics classes, the author found StatKey, a free Web-based app. Not only is StatKey useful for students' year-end projects, but it is also valuable for helping students learn fundamental content such as the central limit theorem. Using StatKey, students can engage in…

Research shows that students often struggle with understanding empirical sampling distributions. Using hands-on and technology models and simulations of problems generated by real data help students begin to make connections between repeated sampling, sample size, distribution, variation, and center. A task to assist teachers in implementing…

What if Stephen Douglas instead of Abraham Lincoln had won the U.S. presidential election of 1860? What if John F. Kennedy had not carried some of the eight states he won by 2 percentage points or fewer in 1960? What if six hundred more people in Florida had voted for Al Gore in 2000? And what if, in that same year, the U.S. House of…

When taking mathematics courses, students will sometimes ask their recurring question, "When will I ever use this in real life?" Educators are often unable to provide a direct connection between what they are teaching in the classroom and a real-life application. However, when such an opportunity does arise, they should seize it and…

This article provides a historical context for the debate between Georg Cantor and Leopold Kronecker regarding the cardinality of different infinities and incorporates the short story "Welcome to the Hotel Infinity," which uses the analogy of a hotel with an infinite number of rooms to help explain this concept. Wanko makes use of this history and…

Uses the random-number generator and list features on the TI-83 graphing calculator to generate lists of sample means to help illustrate the concepts discussed in introductory statistics courses. (ASK)

Describes a five-number summary which is a display of the minimum value, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, and maximum value. Indicates how to draw box plots as graphical representations of a five-number summary. (YP)

Presents an activity considering whether a difference exists in the age of Oscar winners. Describes how to draw a stem plot and a box plot as an example of implementing the recommendations of the NCTM Standards. Provides tables showing the name, movie titles, and ages of the Oscar winners since 1928. (YP)

Reviews the use of chi-square statistics for goodness of fit. Examines how to help students relate their earlier work with independence to the use of chi-square statistics. (KHR)

Describes classroom activities and shows that statistics is a practical tool for solving real problems. Presents a histogram, a stem plot, and a box plot to compare data involving class enrollments. (YP)

Outlines differences between classical statistics and exploratory data analysis. Provides examples in the use of the exploratory techniques. (YP)

This set of activity sheets requires students to organize and display data with a box-and-whiskers graph. Students use the plot as a summary display to detect patterns and to highlight the important features of the data for purposes of comparison. (PK)