Using song-based activities to teach introductory STEM subjects can be engaging and effective and can be done without any musical talent on the part of the instructor. Thus, CAUSE is proud to continue to help facilitate the Virtual Ongoing Interdisciplinary Collaborations on Educating with Song (VOICES). The VOICES initiative will be hosting the second annual virtual conference on the use of song in teaching STEM subjects on Wednesday September 26, 2018. The call for proposals for video posters, live presentations, or any original session designs is at www.causeweb.org/voices/2018/proposals and are due by June 28.
If you'd like to check out the 2017 VOICES meeting, it is archived at:
www.causeweb.org/voices/2017/program
The CAUSE Cartoon Caption Contest for June is now taking entries
The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education is happy to announce our 25th Cartoon Caption Contest (that’s right – more than two years now). Each month a cartoon, drawn by British cartoonist John Landers, will be posted for you and your students to suggest statistical captions. Note that the cartoons are posted at the beginning of the month month and submissions are due at the end of the month regardless of when the winners are announced. Student entries are always welcome and this can be a fun exercise to assign to your class.
The next cartoon and the entry rules for the contest ending June 30th are at [ https://www.causeweb.org/cause/caption-contest/june/2018/submissions | https://www.causeweb.org/cause/caption-contest/june/2018/submissions ]
The best captions will be posted on CAUSEweb and the winner(s) will receive their choice of a coffee mug or t-shirt imprinted with the cartoon.
Enjoy.
May Results: The April caption contest had 25 entries and featured a cartoon a group of people at a burial site. The people seem disinterested in the burial and are instead looking at their laptop and tablet screens. Sticking out of the coffin are equations for calculating the variance, the sample correlation, and Binomial probabilities. The winning caption for the May contest was “In the age of Information Technology, paper-and-pencil statistics are finally laid to rest,” written by Justine Leon Uro. Justine is a student at the University of the Philippines Open University – our first international winner! The caption should prove helpful in discussing how technology should be used to stress the importance of conceptual understanding over procedures and formulas.
Thanks to everyone who submitted a caption and remember to let your students know about the CAUSE caption contest!