If you have any students looking for an interesting, truly worthwhile N & M course, please have them consider STAT S100, Statistical Literacy.
This course teaches students how to be informed consumers of statistics in their everyday lives. It lays out the basic statistical concepts needed to understand what they read in the paper and hear on the news and to be able to make informed decisions.
For example:
Recent articles state that loneliness and obesity are contagious. What does this really mean?
A poll predicted that Kerry would win over Bush in 2004 by a margin of 72% to 9%. How could that poll have been so wrong and which polls should we believe?
How can two reports of the same teen drug use study come to opposite conclusions... and how can we tell truth from spin?
You read that 1 in 4 Americans suffers from mental illness. You are in a room with 39 other people. Does this mean there are 10 people with a mental illness in the room?
While some basic statistical calculations are introduced, the value of understanding the underlying statistical concepts is what is emphasized. Students are asked to challenge their intuition through interactive in-class activities and discussions on such topics as clinical trials, data ethics, public opinion polls and the political process, the question of causation, the role of government statistics, and dealing with chance in everyday life.
