We had 50 submissions for the June caption contest! The cartoon was drawn to show two teams with approximately equal average heights, and with the team with the smaller median height having one extremely tall player. The top prize was won by Albert Koenig, a student at Belgrade High School. Albert’s entry ("I told you outliers can be influential!") was selected for being succinct and well suited for starting a conversation about introductory statistics learning objectives. Other entries that rose to the top of the judging included "There’s nothing standard about that deviation" written by Janet Zupkus, an instructor at Naugatuck Valley Community College and "I mean, statistically it’s a fair game... the mean height is the same," written by Kayden Schaff also a student at Belgrade High School.
Other ideas for using this cartoon in teaching include focusing on assumptions (do we really know the team with the tallest player is ahead?); the selection of the best measure to summarize data (mean, median, or maximum in this case); or on the importance of variability in understanding data.
Rules- Captions will be judged on value for teaching statistics (i.e. make them funny and relevant to your learning objective).
- The best caption(s) will be published on CAUSEweb.org and, as always, the cartoons may be used free of charge in non-profit education settings.
- Entries are welcome from all who use or enjoy statistics, including: students, instructors, and professionals.
- Prize: Choice of a mug or t-shirt imprinted with the cartoon or free registration for eCOTS 2018.
- Contest ends at 11:59pm EDT on Wednesday June 1st, 2016.
- No more than two entries per person.