Resource Library

The Islands is a free, innovative, online virtual human population created by Dr Michael Bulmer from the University of Queensland. The Islands supports the teaching of statistics through data investigations by providing students with a realistic virtual world where they can propose statistical questions, design investigations and collect the necessary data for statistical analysis and interpretation. The wide range of data and tasks available on the Islands caters to many scientific areas and student interests. Must create an account to access this virtual world.

A cartoon to aid in discussing confounding and correlative versus causal relationships, for example by asking students to suggest an alternate reason for the relationship besides the one jokingly illustrated in the cartoon.  The cartoon was created by English cartoonist John Landers in December, 2021 based on an idea by Dennis Pearl (Penn State University) and Larry Lesser (The University of Texas at El Paso).

A cartoon that can be used in teaching about the efficiency of using simulation in statistics. Cartoon 2006 by John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea from Dennis Pearl (The Ohio State University). Free to use in the classroom and on course web sites.

A cartoon  to illustrate the difference between the population of interest and the sampling frame for a survey. The cartoon was drawn by British cartonist John Landers in May 2021 based on an idea from Larry Lesser (University of Texas at El Paso) and Dennis Pearl (Penn State University).

A cartoon to teach ideas of conditional probability. Cartoon by John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea from Dennis Pearl (The Ohio State University). Free to use in the classroom and on course web sites.

A quote from popular fiction that might be used in a discussion of conditional probability. The meaning of the phrase "ninety-eight percent more likely" is also good fodder for class discussion as students might confuse its interpretation between a 1% chance becoming 99% or becoming 1.98%. The quote is by American author Jennifer E. Smith (1980 - ) from her book "The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight."

"Shorn of all subtlety and led naked out of the protective fold of educational research literature, there comes a sheepish little fact: lectures don’t work nearly as well as many of us would like to think." A quote by George Cobb (1947 - 2020) from his 1992 paper "Teaching Statistics," in Heeding the Call for Change: Suggestions for Curricular Action, ed. Lynn Steen, MAA Notes Number 22, 3-43. The quote is a well-phrased reminder that listening to lectures is not an effective way for students to learn.

A video using dance to teach about concepts involved with frequency distributions.  This 2013 video is from the “Dancing Statistics” series developed by Lucy Irving from Middlesex University (UK) funded by a BPS Public Engagement grant and additional funding from IdeasTap.  Full credits are within the video.   The Dancing Statistics project is described at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00050/full

The video also comes with teaching notes for viewing by instructors who are logged into CAUSEweb.org. 

A video using dance to teach about the concept of variance involved.  This 2013 video is from the “Dancing Statistics” series developed by Lucy Irving from Middlesex University (UK) funded by a BPS Public Engagement grant and additional funding from IdeasTap.  Full credits are within the video.   The Dancing Statistics project is described at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00050/full

The video also comes with teaching notes for viewing by instructors who are logged into CAUSEweb.org. 

A video using dance to teach about concepts involved with correlation.  This 2013 video is from the “Dancing Statistics” series developed by Lucy Irving from Middlesex University (UK) funded by a BPS Public Engagement grant and additional funding from IdeasTap.  Full credits are within the video.   The Dancing Statistics project is described at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00050/full

The video also comes with teaching notes for viewing by instructors who are logged into CAUSEweb.org.