Author Archives: George Cobb

About George Cobb

George Cobb is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Statistics, Mount Holyoke College.

Randomization and the Undergraduate Curriculum

GCobbGeorge Cobb, Mount Holyoke College

I’m writing about implications of simulation-based inference (SBI) for the undergraduate statistics major, but also for students who take only one or a few statistics courses, because these implications apply also to the undergraduate major. I begin with some strengths and omissions of SBI in its current forms.[pullquote]… the SBI course serves as a foundation for more advanced courses. How does it compare with more traditional first courses? Potentially, it offers better preparation for additional courses, but the details will depend on rethinking the intermediate and advanced curriculum. [/pullquote]

Continue reading

Why Even Bother To Teach The Normal Stuff?

GCobbGeorge Cobb, Mount Holyoke College

I’m writing to respond to a pair of questions we often hear from teachers who are considering a simulation-based alternative to the traditional normal-centric course: (1) “If the simulation-based approach is so great, why even bother to teach the normal-based stuff at all?” (2) If I’m going to include the normal-based stuff, do you have any suggestions about how to make the transition? ”[pullquote]The “theory” in what some of us call the “theory-based approach” is the Central Limit Theorem, actually a cluster of theorems about convergence of sampling distributions to normal (Gaussian). [/pullquote]

Continue reading