Course Overview
The Dana Center Mathematics Pathways (DCMP) Introductory Statistics: Analyzing Data with Purpose (ISAP) course is a college-level introductory statistics course organized around broad statistical concepts and intended to serve students pursuing careers in business, allied health, nursing, and the social and behavioral sciences.
The in-class activities, along with the accompanying homework, are openly available for use by any instructor.
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Statistics differs from mathematics in several ways. Statistics is inherently a data-based discipline that requires students to recognize variability in data and to take it into account to make decisions in a way that acknowledges and quantifies uncertainty. This introductory statistics course is grounded in data, with engaging contexts bringing meaning to the work. Students are asked to learn from data and communicate with data, with a focus on the investigative process that leads to data-based conclusions.
Throughout this course, students construct and test hypotheses, solve problems, reflect on their work, and make connections between concepts.
Students will use the DCMP Data Analysis Tools to facilitate data analysis and exploration, and to support the development of understanding important concepts such as sampling variability.
This course can be taught using 3 or 4 contact hours per week.
Explore Introductory Statistics: Analyzing Data with Purpose Materials
This course develops essential conceptual understanding by supporting students in:
- Learning good practice in study design
- Presentation and interpretation of univariate data using both graphical and numerical methods
- Probability
- Discrete and continuous probability distributions
- Linear regression
- Statistical inference
- Confidence intervals
- Hypothesis testing
- Inference for regression
- Analysis of variance
In this course, statistical thinking is viewed as an investigative process that leads to data-based conclusions. This type of statistical thinking promotes student success in future courses, helps students gain skills for the workplace, and prepares them to become well-informed, engaged citizens.
Online Homework Platform
The Dana Center has partnered with Lumen Learning to provide faculty and students with an optional online homework platform. To learn more about using the Dana Center’s courses on Lumen Learning's Online Homework Manager (OHM), fill out this form.
