Catherine Case, University of Florida
My first experience teaching statistics was at the college level, so for my first few years of teaching, I never heard the infamous question, “Can we have a free day?” Now that I teach AP Statistics at a high school, I do hear that question from time-to-time (somewhere between 1 and 1 million times per day), and I need to be prepared with a good answer! Why should they care about what we’re doing in class today? My first goal for each class is to get buy-in from my students, to convince them that statistics is relevant to their lives and we have important, interesting things to accomplish. Simulation-based inference helps me do that. We’re able to draw inferences from real-world data starting on the first day of class, and breaking out spinners, dice, and coins never hurts! [pullquote]Incorporating simulation-based inference in a high school statistics class presents… opportunities for students to make connections and gain experience with statistical inference throughout the course.[/pullquote]