The CAUSE Cartoon Caption Contest for September is now taking entries
The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education is happy to
announce our 28th 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 September 30th are at
[
https://www.causeweb.org/cause/caption-contest/september/2018/submissions |
https://www.causeweb.org/cause/caption-contest/september/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.
August Results: The August caption contest had 17 entries and featured a cartoon with a
pair of twins walking along side a lake while a piano hangs precariously on a rope over
their heads. The rope is being hit by lightening, there are space ships in the distance
about to land, and the Loch Ness Monster appears in the water - all while the twins appear
to be about to slip on a pair of banana peels! The winning caption for the August contest
was “Always read the full informed consent document before signing up to be in a
matched-pairs experiment,” written by Greg Snow from Brigham Young University. The caption
should prove helpful in discussing human subjects issues during a unit on designing
experiments. Honorable mentions this month went to Michael Albers from East Carolina
University for his submission: After winning both Powerball and Megamillions on the same
day, Bill and Sam head out to celebrate,” and to an anonymous contributor for the entry
“The Poisson model for rare events was about to be tested.” Both of the honorable mentions
might be used in discussing models for rare events and the assumption of independence.
Several other great entries also focused on issues of rare events and matched-pair
designs.
Thanks to everyone who submitted a caption and remember to let your students know about
the CAUSE caption contest!