Statistics: Vehicle for Interdisciplinary Study and Service

Posted on October 19, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

I love teaching AP Statistics. What I love even more is doing Statistics. When we came to the end of the first (of four) units in this course, Descriptive Statistics, I was looking for a way to let my students practice the Statistics we had learned. Last year we created and administered a silly little survey about how the start of school was going for Carondelet and DLS students. This survey certainly served it’s purpose and added an element of fun.

This year, I wanted to do something different. Having been a pretty bad member of the Sr. Clare Dunn Forum planning committee (I think I’ve missed every meeting this year) I thought there might be a way for me to make up for that, and a way to connect my students to this school-wide event. I reached out to Kristy Schow with my idea and asked her what would be useful to know about our school community ahead of the forum. Here’s her response:

1. Why does the criminal justice system need reform? Does it need reform? In what ways?

2. Is meaningful reform possible in our political/economic/social climate? Why/why not? What type of reform is most meaningful/beneficial?

3. Are there alternatives to prison? What are they? When are they appropriate?

4. What are the social impacts of imprisonment and the economic impacts?

5. What injustices do we see in our prison system and our criminal justice system? What is the solution?

While these questions were great, they were too broad and open-ended to put on a survey. And what I love about this is that this is exactly what happens with real research every day. A researcher (Kristy) wants to know information about a group of people and it’s the job of the Statistician (my students) to flesh out the needed information and operationalize them into concrete variables with categories or numerical responses. In one 45 minute period I divided my class into five groups and gave each group one of the questions above. Their job was to turn the one broad question into 3-4 survey questions. At the same time, they had to think of any important demographic/background variables needed on our survey. Here‘s what they came up with.

We posted the survey to Schoology and within a week had over 500 responses! They spent the next 2-3 weeks analyzing the results, using Minitab Statistical software, and building a report and poster to summarize their findings.

Today we hung our posters in the inner-court, contributing to the impressive museum that the planning committee has created.

We hope you can visit and see what our community thinks about prison reform and how these beliefs trend based on gender, political views and other demographics.

Today was a win for me. Allowing my students to see that Statistics is a math tool with far reaching potential (most people don’t see Math and Social Studies as a natural pairing) is an important lesson. I hope it might pique some of their career interests and help them see the flexibility, and the power, of Math. I also love that there was a service component to this project. While we could have come up with our own topic on which to survey students, it was much more rich to act as consultants, work with Kristy’s broad themes and create a survey that actually served others. This was a great example of school work being the total opposite of busy work. The work they created, in a class, served to educate our community on an important, relevant and timely topic.

What other ways can we create school-wide events where we as teachers can create projects that allow us to collaborate and serve the school?

The Carrot Wins!

Posted on June 22, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

The Carrot Wins!

What do high school students and Israeli Air Force pilots have in common? Both groups achieve learning goals better and faster when praised for achievement rather than criticized for failure. If you want your students to learn deeply and be fully engaged, throw out the sticks and bring out the carrots. This is the conclusion of world renowned Nobel Prize winner and expert statistician, Daniel Kahneman. His most recent book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that praise is much more effective impetus for learning than criticism.

The first response of many teachers have to this revelation is, “How can this be? Praise is nice, but I get best results when I push students; when I make them keep at it until they get it right.” Or maybe, “She got a D+ on the last assignment. She brought up the next one to a B-. That first low grade made her work harder.” These short term results may be true in some cases. They are memorable because they reinforce our belief that the stick works. But how many students just gave up? How many continued to get D+’s? And did this negative reinforcement help the students become more engaged in the learning process? Hundreds of experiments conducted by Daniel Kahneman provide statistical evidence that the long term results of negative feedback does not reinforce engaged long term learning. Praise for achievement always comes out on top.

It is time to look at our teaching to see how well we are employing the carrots. How are we using formative and summative assessment? Are assessments being used to praise progress or are they being used to criticize shortcomings? Think of video games. Failure to meet a goal simply means that you need to keep trying. Success is met with bells and whistles, a feeling of accomplishment, and it opens doors to more difficult challenges ahead. Moving forward is not motivated through fear of failure, but through the desire to succeed. The stick is replaced with the carrot. Learning must be seen as worthwhile, interesting, and even fun. This is the challenge. Instead of forcing students to learn, we must entice them to want to learn.

When Ven a Ver Experiences Are Equally Beneficial To The Teacher

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

So far this year I have had the privilege of experiencing two Ven A Ver Trips, Washington D.C. and Appalachia (West Virginia). Although both experiences were very different (conference vs an immersion), but spoke to me in a way that I was able to bring what I learned back into the classroom. Although I teach Religious Studies, I don’t believe that this is the only discipline that can do this. Areas of Science, Social Studies, English and Modern Languages can all apply the information that I gained on these experiences. I will touch on the parallels in these disciplines in the following paragraphs. In Washington D.C. the Teach-In had its emphasis on Immigration (especially DACA), and Racism and it’s links to Mass Incarceration. This experience was eye opening for a number of reasons. Hearing first hand about the lives of those effected by racism and outdated legislation created a fire in me to not be silent to and make it a priority to educate those who can help make those changes; our students. We can often be blind to legislation that exists in other states because it doesn’t effect us, but in reality those pieces of legislation are a part of the problem because they increase the numbers in the prison system. When we met with our local California Representatives they received us in a very positive way and were supportive of the causes we were advocating for. But the legislation problems lie outside of our state boarders. This trip opened our group up to see a responsibility to not only speak with our Representative, but also seek to contact Representatives from other areas. It also allowed us to not be ignorant regarding racism and how it is effecting this country today.
The stories that were told by other students and presenters emphasized the need to be educated in these areas and to not be content with saying it is better now, so let’s focus on something else. I am sure that these issues are already being discussed in our Modern Language classes. Our English classes already write letters to our Representatives, and this is another confirmation that we need to keep doing this. The message we received from our Representatives was that they want to hear from us regarding specific legislation that they can focus on. In Appalachia the effects of the Opioid epidemic and the decline of the Coal and Steel industry were clearly visible. Unemployment rates in statistics can allow us to oversee the issues in a state such as West Virginia where two counties have unemployment as high as 9.5%. Being in the state makes it even more real, and emphasized the importance of helping our students realize the reality that fellow Americans face. The sources of energy per state differs and we need to be mindful of the environmental impact from those different sources. Mountain Top Removal and environmental disasters such as coal slurry pits are covered in Science courses. The moral dilemmas of how much to effect our natural environment is also covered in Religious Studies courses. The Ven a Ver to Appalachia helps the students see first hand what they had been studying. It also help me bring what I discovered there back to Carondelet to help the students understand the issues from another point of view. Although it may appear that these trips portray a sense of hopelessness, slivers of hope can be found in the stories we heard. One Post-Graduate student in West Virginia is experimenting with Coal and the properties it has when it is superheated. It turns into a non-flammable substance that is an incredible insulator. What this Post-Graduate student has created is not being looked in to by NASA. I have been incredibly happy to have been able to experience these two Ven a Ver trips and to bring back what I have learned to Carondelet and the classroom. These trips allow for the problems and solutions to be seen through the lens of a variety of disciplines, which helps me teach to a broader pool of students (and their interests). I am looking forward to being a part of more trips and to help see the solutions through the fog of despair.

Critical Thinking and Reading: ‘Big History’ Skills for all Disciplines

Posted on February 28, 2018 by Elizabeth Chaponot

I’ve completed half of the Big History Project online professional development and want to share some of my initial thoughts. While this post might not be of value to the English and Social Studies teachers who will be completing the P.D., I thought it might be of interest to others who want to get a better sense of the skills the course emphasizes. These skills certainly transcend any single discipline.

(1) Critical Thinking: Big History emphasizes critical thinking as a skill. The course explicitly teaches critical thinking through the routine of “claim testing.” In Big History, claim testing means examining an idea in four different areas that challenge students to consider four different questions:

intuition: Does the claim jive with your intuition?
authority: Does the claim come from a trusted source?
evidence: Does the claim come with data points to back it up?
logic: Does the claim follow a clear line of reasoning?

The course starts by having students apply claim testing to readings. Then, they practice with debates. The idea is that as the practice of claim testing becomes more familiar to students, they naturally apply it to class discussions and writing.

(2) Reading: Big History embraces three different approaches to teaching reading:

leveled readings: In partnership with Newsela, the course readings are provided at a variety of reading levels so that students at all levels have access to the big ideas. I love this embedded differentiation!
three close reads: On the first reading, students read for the “gist” and make a prediction. On the second read, the students read for key facts and main ideas. On the third read, students “think bigger” and are asked to connect the text to a broader concept.
video as text: The course treats video as text to be “read.” I love this mindset as it encourages active learning in activity often viewed by our culture as passive.

I love the differentiated texts and “close reading” approach Big History champions. While I do not believe all texts should be ‘close read’ or necessarily close read in this way, I think the three-part close reading method lends itself nicely to a variety of short non-fiction texts with the goal of increasing reading comprehension and making meaning.

As we re-write our curricula, I think it is important for us to be mindful of the academic language and we use as teachers. Using common language, as appropriate, will only increase the likelihood students will transfer skills and ideas from course to course. #claimtesting #threeclosereads #videoastext

The second half of the professional development will focus on writing… more to come.

Choice = Engagement

Posted on December 10, 2017 by Elizabeth Chaponot

Whenever possible I allow students to select a topic of
their choosing. I have found that providing choices, even just a few, always
enhances engagement. For example, when studying civil disobedience in Civics
class I made a list of about thirty people and groups who have committed civil
disobedience in the United States. Students, individually or in teams, chose a
topic for an oral report. Many students did research above and beyond the
requirements. They got so involved that it took three days to present all the
reports.

I included several guiding questions about civil
disobedience to provide a common ground for all the reports. Incorporating
these questions assured the reports would meet my learning objectives while
still giving students freedom to study topics they found interesting. Below are
some comments from their feedback.

“I liked that we could do our projects on basically anything
we wanted so that we could be learning about something that we are really
interested in.”

“I liked learning and presenting about a topic that is
interesting to me and being able to choose what I want to learn more about.”

“I liked that we got to pick our own topic to do for the
presentations because I found that I got very into it.”

Aside from the level of engagement, what I find interesting
about these comments is that the parameters were actually rather narrow.
Students had to pick from my list. They had to address my questions. We kept
the discussion focused on the pros and cons of civil disobedience. Yet,
students felt such a sense of freedom to study what they wanted to study.

Students also enjoyed hearing the other presentations. Here
are some responses about the presentations of others.

“I liked learning about all the different things that were
presented in the presentations.”

“The presentations about iPhone users and also Apple v FBI,
I found those two presentations very interesting.”

“I found that when researching topics and hearing about
others topics it has helped me further understand topics that are in our
everyday life.”

My usual experience is that students are not very interested
in the presentations of their classmates. I believe the fact that the
presenters were interested in what they were presenting made the audience
interested. Whenever I give choices, engagement levels increase. It’s one more
step toward student centered learning.

Not Another Presentation!

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Elizabeth Chaponot

Do you ever feel like both you and your students will explode if you have to listen to one more presentation? Try turning your next set of presentations into a “soap opera” script. Each student must carry on a dialogue with their presentation teammates. The dialogue must be passed from student to student, with each student speaking only a few lines at a time. For example:

Alyssa: Did you know that Henry Ford shortened the work day from 10 to 8 hours while doubling worker’s pay from $2.50 a day to $5.00 a day?
Arianna: He did, but he also make his employees work so hard during those 8 hours a day that many quit after less than a year.
Amaya: Workers could not talk while working. They were not even supposed to smile or take a bathroom break. And they were only given 15 minutes for lunch.
Alyssa: But Ford did provide nice housing for his workers.
Arianna: Nice if you did not mind unscheduled inspections and being forced to going to church every Sunday. Anyone violating Ford’s code of conduct was immediately fired.
Amaya: Not only that, Ford was a racists. He paid African Americans less than whites and he hated Jews.
Alyssa: His new assembly line method produced millions of cars, but was the human cost worth it?

Not only do the students producing the dialogue really enjoy bringing a little drama into the presentation, the audience enjoys not know what is coming next. This is much more interesting than simply stating all the facts.

For assessment I have each presenter create a multiple choice question that engages thinking, not just rote memorization. I create the quizzes in Schoology and the rest of the class takes the quiz after each presentation.

The students enjoy creating and listening to the presentations. The quizzes help engage the audience and provide assessment feedback. All around, this is a great way to learn new material. And, if you want to put a label on this method, it is the jigsaw method of learning.

Hot Seat Discussions

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Elizabeth Chaponot

One challenge to a good class discussion is full participation. One solution is the “hot seat” discussion. Physically I have each team of 5 to 6 students arrange their desks into a horseshoe shape. One desk goes in the middle of the horseshoe facing the center of the room. This usually results in four to five groups facing the center of the room.

I set up this discussion two ways. In the first I keep one speaker in the hot seat throughout the discussion. Whenever team members have information or questions for the discussion they write them down and pass them to the team speaker. I collect the papers at the end of the discussion. Messages can also be passed with blog postings. This type of hot seat discussion works best with broad based questions that allow the discussion to move to a variety of topics.

Let’s say the discussion is about the general topic such as
free speech. This discussion might go in a variety of directions. The designated speaker knows what information his/her group has on the topic but has not delved down into all aspects. When a backup member has specific information from the areas they have studied, it is time for that team member to pass this information on to the speaker. The backup members can also check the Internet when other teams provide information or arguments that are unfamiliar to the team.

Another discussion might look into specific free speech topics such as the freedom to demonstrate, the freedom to expose classified information, or the freedom to espouse unpopular opinions. In such a discussion each group member can take turns in the hot seat as each topic comes up for discussion.

In either format it is easy for the teacher to determine both the depth of knowledge each team brings to the discussion and also the depth of knowledge each team member brings to the discussion.

When discussions become heated I like to take short breaks for team members to discuss the topic among themselves before returning to the general discussion. This a a great way to dissipate energy and to bring depth to the discussion.

Try out the “hot seat” method. It is effective and student responses have been very positive.

Reflections from our community