USCOTS

USCOTS Line up of speakers and session is now on-line. USCOTS 2007 is definitely "Taking Statistics Teaching to the Next Level" with 30 breakout sessions! Check out this fantastic lineup at www.causeweb.org/uscots/program. Be sure to register soon during early bird registration!

USCOTS Pre-conference Workshops

USCOTS will be offering two pre-conference workshops on Wednesday and Thursday, May 16 & 17th. A one day workshop on bootstrap methods and permutation tests for teaching statistics will be held on Wednesday, May 16th. Participants in this workshop should be teaching or planning to teach introductory level undergraduate statistics courses in a two-year or four-year college or university, or the Advanced Placement high school statistics course. Additional details on this workshop and registration information can be found at www.causeweb.org/workshop/hesterberg.

A one and a half day workshop on post-introductory statistics topics will be begin on Wednesday, May 16 and conclude Thursday, May 17 in the early afternoon. The target audience for the CAUSE Undergraduate Statistics Program workshop are people from programs with an introductory statistics course and/or incoming students with AP Stat looking to offer an applied statistics course beyond the introductory level. Additional details on this workshop and registration information can be found at www.causeweb.org/workshop/cusp.

Humor Competition Announced

Announcing the "2007 CAUSE A-mu-sing Competition"! All are eligible to enter unpublished examples of statistics jokes/cartoons, songs, poems, or videos for a chance to win cash prizes, publication on CAUSEWeb and recognition at USCOTS 2007! Entry deadline is March 1, 2007. See www.causeweb.org/contest for complete rules and entry form.

USCOTS Cluster Groups

Join an USCOTS Cluster Group when you register for USCOTS. Clusters of 10-20 individuals with common interests and goals in statistics education will be formed prior to USCOTS. Cluster groups will meet 3 times during USCOTS to assess needs, discuss session activities, and take advantage of the opportunity to plan collaborative work to present at USCOTS '09. After USCOTS each cluster will work on this plan and also develop an electronic handbook to guide new and continuing cluster members. There are seven different cluster groups and their conveners are:

• Introductory Statistics Course Cluster "Get It" level with Ginger Rowell
• Introductory Statistics Course Cluster "Use It" level with Marjorie Bond
• Introductory Statistics Course Cluster "Share It" level with Roger Woodard
  (Introductory Statistics Clusters may be categorized in different ways depending on demand.)
• Second Statistics Course Cluster "Move to the Next Course" with Julie Legler and Sterling Hilton
• Graduate Students Cluster: "Moving to a Teaching Career" with Deborah Rumsey
• AP Statistics / High School Teachers Cluster: "Get It" level with David Spohn and Jackie Miller
• Statistics Education Research Cluster with Joan Garfield and the CAUSE Research Advisory Board

Check out details at www.causeweb.org/uscots/register/Cluster_details.pdf.

USCOTS Idea Exchange Forum - "posters and beyond"

The spotlight sessions at USCOTS 2005 were quite a success. For USCOTS 2007, we introduce the Idea Exchange Forum (IEF). When you register for USCOTS, consider submitting an idea for the IEF. The IEF has space for 40 participants per session with 2 sessions (80 total IEF participants). We want to push the envelope with types of presentations for the IEF. You can present a poster, a small demonstration, an interactive game, or more! At USCOTS 2005 we had a clarinet performance, Statistics Jeopardy!, and "Statistics Before Your Eyes: Photographs of Statistical Concepts" to name a few. This is your opportunity to showcase something special that you do in your class and can share with the statistics education community. It's a chance to think outside of the box, kind of "posters and beyond." How can you submit your idea? You can submit your abstract by accessing your USCOTS registration. You should choose "submitting a poster or demonstration." All abstract submissions received by February 1st will receive feedback from the session organizers. The final abstract deadline is April 1, acceptance decisions will be made by April 17. For more information, please contact Jackie Miller at miller.203@osu.edu.

Undergraduate Project Competition

The deadline for the First Undergraduate Statistics Project Competition that was announced last fall is January 29th. We look forward to seeing the winning entries at USCOTS! Thanks to the organizing committee for their hard work - Carl Lee, chair and Felix Famoye of Central Michigan, John Holcomb of Cleveland State University, and Jeff Witmer of Oberlin College. For details see www.causeweb.org/usproc.php.

Webinar: Teaching Introductory Statistics with a Sports Emphasis

Jim Albert, Bowling Green State University, will be hosting this webinar on February 13, 2007 at 2:00pm EST. He will discuss an introductory statistics course that is entirely taught from a baseball perspective. This class has been taught as a special section of the basic introductory course offered at Bowling Green State University. Topics in data analysis are communicated using current and historical baseball datasets. Probability is introduced by describing and playing tabletop baseball games. Inference is taught by distinguishing between a player's "ability" and his "performance", and then describing how one can learn about a player's ability based on his season performance. Baseball issues such as the proper interpretation of situational and "streaky" data are used to illustrate statistical inference. Registration link: www.causeweb.org/webinar/2007-02.

CAUSE Summer Workshops

CAUSE is pleased to announce a lineup of four summer workshops. Check out the professional development opportunities in your region.

"Navigating the First Statistics Service Course", will be offered at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY, August 6-10, 2007. The material will be presented by Tom Short of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and John Holcomb of Cleveland State University. This five day workshop will expose participants to current strategies, resources, and research about teaching and learning introductory statistics. Workshop details and application information can be found at www.causeweb.org/workshop/rochester.

The 2007 joint SOCR/CAUSEway continuing education workshop will take place in August, 06-08, 2007 at UCLA. The workshop will demonstrate the functionality, utilization and assessment of the current UCLA, SOCR and CAUSEweb resources. This workshop will be of most value to AP teachers and college instructors of probability and statistics classes who have interests in exploring novel IT-based approaches for enhancing statistics education. The workshop will provide an interactive forum for exchange of ideas and recommendations for strategies to integrate computers, modern pedagogical approaches, the Internet and new student assessment techniques. Most of the travel and accommodation expenses will be covered for all participants. More information and the web-application form are available at: wiki.stat.ucla.edu/socr/index.php/SOCR_Events_Aug2007.

Teaching Introductory Statistics, will be offered at California Polytechnic Institute June 17-20 by Allan Rossman and Beth Chance. A workshop for Statistics Educators is being offered the week of July 8th at Westminster, Pennsylvania led by Rob Gould, Brian Jersky and Carolyn Cuff. Details on both workshops should be available soon at www.causeweb.org/workshop.