teaching
-
The Anti-Frequentist Baby
It’s possible to educate Bayesian statisticians from infancy. Eric-Jan Wagenmakers, of JASP fame, shows us how with his new book, Bayesian Thinking for Toddlers. Read more
-
Take a look at Atkinson Hyperlegible
Enter the Braille Institute’s contribution, the Atkinson Hyperlegible computer font, especially designed for those of us with blurry vision. Follow the link to download your free copy, ready to install on a Mac or Windows PC. I gave it a spin yesterday with Microsoft Word, and it works like a charm, much more readable than… Read more
-
Distance Learning — an Unexpected Life Skill
The Babylon Bee finds a pearl in the oyster of distance learning: Public Schools Now Preparing Kids for a Lifetime of Soul-Crushing Zoom Meetings. Update: Damn it, Bee! You’re supposed to be doing satire, not straight reporting! Read more
-
The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good
Many of us university instructors are scrambling to adapt our formerly face-to-face courses into online courses. This, to allow “social distancing” in response to the Wuhan Flu pandemic. Rebecca Barrett-Fox urges us “Please do a bad job of putting your courses online.” I’m absolutely serious. For my colleagues who are now being instructed to put Read more
-
Pick a Name at Random
Found a cool new tool useful in simulating data sets: the Random Name Generator. What a great way to fake up some data! I’ve been using it in a course that includes survey sampling. Read more
-
Caught in the Draft
In December of 1969, the Selective Service held a lottery to determine the order in which young men would be called up for the Draft. My number was a low 53, and that set the course for much of my adult life. Turns out, the odds were against me. A nice description of what happened. Read more
-
You can teach yourself
Tara Westover gives the Big Reveal about education My parents would say to me all the time: you can teach yourself anything better than someone else can teach it to you. Which I really think is true. I hate the the word “disempower,” because it seems kind of cliché, but I do think that we Read more
-
Feynman’s 4-Step Learning Process
From the man who showed up rocket scientists, a simple checklist: pick a topic you want to understand and start studying it pretend to teach your topic to a classroom* go back to the books when you get stuck** simplify and use analogies Exactly the technique I use to “get smart” on lots of stuff Read more
-
Ooo, ooo! I have a better idea!
Those wily Brits have identified some major stumbling blocks in their education system: Schools are removing analogue clocks from examination halls because teenagers are unable to tell the time, a head teachers’ union has said. Teachers are now installing digital devices after pupils sitting their GCSE and A-level exams complained that they were struggling to Read more
-
When all you have is a hammer…
…everything looks like a nail. Daniel Lakens, the 20% Statistician, takes a rare but easy shot at statisticians and null hypothesis significance testing. Our statistics education turns a blind eye to training people how to ask a good question. After a brief explanation of what a mean is, and a pit-stop at the normal distribution, Read more
The Random Texan 