Teaching probability and statistics is more than teaching the mathematics itself. Historically, the mathematics of probability and statistics was first developed through analyzing games of chance such as the rolling of dice. This article makes the case that the understanding of probability and statistics is dependent upon building a…

Finding ways to enhance introductory students' understanding of probability ideas and theory is a goal of many first-year probability courses. In this article, we explore the potential of a prototype tool for Markov processes using dynamic visualizations to develop in students a deeper understanding of the equilibrium and hitting times…

In August 2015, in an article entitled "Estimating the Reproducibility of Psychology Science," the journal "Science" reported the findings of a comprehensive collaboration of social scientist researchers, collectively described as the "Open Science Collaboration" (OSC), who replicated the findings of 100 experiments…

We used housing data from a Chinese college to examine peer effects on students' major persistence and major choices after dropping out of their initial majors. Random checks were performed to ensure that student peers--dormitory roommates and social group mates--were randomly assigned according to a few known factors. In addition, two peer groups…

High school calculus has become indispensable for students seeking a college degree in a STEM field. However, in the present study, we argue that the mathematics opportunities that students seize (when afforded) in middle grades are the key to earning calculus credit in high school. To take calculus in high school, students usually need to take…

In this interview, we discuss my early uses of meta-analytic procedures, first to combine "p"-values and then to combine effect sizes as well. My interest in quantifying the magnitude and the statistical significance of the effect of interpersonal expectations probably grew out of the following: (1) a long-held interest in the concept of…

This paper presents a comparison of three approaches to the teaching of probability to demonstrate how the truth table of elementary mathematical logic can be used to teach the calculations of conditional probabilities. Students are typically introduced to the topic of conditional probabilities--especially the ones that involve Bayes' rule--with…

Researchers who need to explain treatment effects to laypeople can translate Cohen's effect size (standardized mean difference) to a common language effect size--a probability of a random observation from one population being larger than a random observation from the other population. This common language effect size can be extended to represent…

As the number of independent tosses of a fair coin grows, the rates of heads and tails tend to equality. This is misinterpreted by many students as being true also for the absolute numbers of the two outcomes, which, conversely, depart unboundedly from each other in the process. Eradicating that misconception, as by coin-tossing experiments,…

Background: Two ubiquitous findings from the literature are that (1) children with specific language impairments (SLI) repeat nonwords less accurately than peers with typical language development (TLD), and (2) all children repeat nonwords with frequent phonotactic patterns more accurately than low-probability nonwords. Many studies have examined…

The concept of "weak measurements" in quantum physics is a way of "cheating" the Uncertainty Principle. Heisenberg stated (and 85 years of experiments have demonstrated) that it is impossible to know both the position and momentum of a particle with arbitrary precision. More precise measurements of one decrease the precision…

The present study investigated the prevalence and co-occurrence of addictions to tobacco, alcohol, other drugs, food/eating, the internet, texting, video games, shopping, love, sex, exercise, work, and gambling among American Indian (AI) youth in California. As with previous work in other cultural groups, the most prevalent addictions were love,…

School choice allows families to choose schools that are more suited to their children. These choices may affect non-academic outcomes, including students' mental health. We empirically examine the relationship between school choice and mental health using two methods. First, we use difference-in-differences to estimate the effects of state…

Faculty members and their corresponding academic fields at the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón are classified with regard to grading practices over time. Based on the effects on the intercept of the equations that predict the GPA and the proportion of student withdrawals observed in each of the 39,337 courses offered during 41 consecutive…

The Palau Ministry of Education and Palau Community College are aligning their education systems to better prepare students for college. Research on the high school academic preparation variables that predict college success is limited for students in Palau. Using data from Palau's Ministry of Education and Palau Community College, this study…