were astounded that statistics is useful in addressing problems peo- The second phase involves working with the webmaster at the
ple care about. They really liked the “take-home” ideas at the end University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Instructional Development
of each presentation. and Distance Education to develop a prototype of a web-based
Instructional Designer Carol Washburn gave the team general version of these case studies, including voiceover slides, real or
recommendations for engaging an audience: tell people what to simulated data, links to real or simulated data and supplemental
expect, introduce the question/problem, grab attention by con- information, and other activities.
necting to key ideas the audience already knows (i.e., review rel- The video of the 2007 live session has been enormously helpful
evant statistical and probabilistic concepts), and present new ideas in developing the voiceover slides. The team is hoping to develop a
in a concept-feedback-concept-feedback format, showing how they format other researchers can use to create similar case studies that
relate to the current problem. Hands-on activities are important, describe their own collaborative research. A major goal is to inform
and the session should close with conclusions and a summary of students, their teachers, and parents about career opportunities in
take-home ideas. collaborative research and to encourage students to continue their
Washburn observed the session, which her staff videotaped. The statistics education as they pursue other academic interests. n
team met the following week for a post-mortem, and she outlined
how their field trip session could be converted into a distance-learn-
ing format using the web. She emphasized that less is more (e.g.,
Errata
you can cut content by as much as 50% without losing compre-
The Government Statistics Section is sponsoring an
hension) and recommended layering information so general infor-
invited panel titled “Helping Data Users Better Understand
mation is most prominent and to which details are linked. Other
the American Community Survey” that will cover issues
suggestions included adopting a common format and terminology
concerning the American Community Survey just weeks
for “core” concepts across case studies and making the session as
before the bureau releases the 2007 American Community
interactive as possible. An evaluation component also should be
Survey data and prepares for the December 2008 release of
included to obtain feedback from the target audience, such as a
its first three-year data products. This panel takes place at
short question or two at the end of an activity for students and a
JSM on Monday, August 4, at 10:30 a.m.
mechanism for obtaining feedback from teachers and parents.
Statistics and the Environment
Monitoring Workshop
Slated for October
Devin Johnson, Section Publications Chair
null
The spatio-temporal data collected
in environmental monitoring present
interesting and challenging statistical
problems
null
.
T
he Statistics and the Environment Section of the ASA lems, such as modeling of space-time correlation, analysis of
will host the Statistical Issues in Monitoring the the huge amount of correlated data, and analysis of high-fre-
Environment Workshop October 22–24, 2008, at the quency monitoring data. Technical sessions will cover recent
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in developments in statistical methods for environmental data.
Boulder, Colorado. This workshop covers state-of-the-art A one-day short course on the analysis of spatial and
applications and statistical methods in environmental moni- spatio-temporal data will be offered and taught by Doug
toring. Sessions on applications include monitoring in ecol- Nychka. There also will be a poster session. Poster abstracts
ogy, monitoring in air quality, monitoring of aquatic resourc- must be submitted by September 23, 2008. For more infor-
es, and monitoring of climate change and its impacts. mation, visit
www.stat.purdue.edu/envr or contact Hao Zhang,
The spatio-temporal data collected in environmental mon- Department of Statistics, Purdue University, West Lafayette,
itoring present interesting and challenging statistical prob- IN 47906; (765) 496-9548;
zhanghao@purdue.edu.
AUGUST 2008 AMSTAT NEWS 45
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68