Brainstorming session ideas

1. Basic understanding
   • Math operations
   • Comparing numbers on different scales
2. More basic math
   • Order of operations
   • Laws of Exponents
3. Context matters
   • Units: 5 grams is not the same as 5 pounds
   • Be more specific about what we are talking about.
4. Numeracy
   • Can they put these in order: 0.05, 0.025, 0.10, etc
   • Scientific Notation - especially on calculators
5. Terminology
• Being able to explain without statistical jargon. What is a p-value? What does "reject the null hypothesis" mean in this problem?
6. Frequencies are different from rates
• (We don't fix a problem by making all the samples the same size.)
7. Parameters versus statistics
8. Reading skills
9. Thinking skills
10. Study Skills
• Show students how to create a practice test. Tell them to take the sample problems and work them without looking at the solutions.
11. Every time we use a word like "parameter" we slow the students down.
12. Words matter:
• 60 + 70 = ?
  60% + 70% = ?
  If we have 60% market share on the East Coast and 70% market share on the West Coast, what is our overall market share?
13. Organizational skills
14. Association
    • We talk about confounding. Then we don't discuss it again.
    • We talk about randomness.
      But I start early. Ten tosses of a coin. Who has special powers? (Who got a long run?) How could we tell if they had special powers, i.e. if they had an unusually long run?
    • How to introduce distinguishing reality from noise.