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16971 Posts
On September 25 2011 14:12 Monoxide wrote:
I'm just a TA, bu I have university level students in my stats tutorial that can't tell me the number of the most frequent observation from a bar graph. I got so depressed marking those quizzes.
Haha, I TA an intro stat class. We were talking about confounding variables, and to the question "Please identify a reason as to why taller people have shorter hair," instead of the obvious confounding variable of gender (men tend to be taller and tend to have shorter hair due to societal norms), a student answered "maybe tall people think they look silly with long hair."
I ended up giving him credit :<
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Hong Kong9152 Posts
On September 25 2011 15:35 Empyrean wrote:Show nested quote +On September 25 2011 14:12 Monoxide wrote:
I'm just a TA, bu I have university level students in my stats tutorial that can't tell me the number of the most frequent observation from a bar graph. I got so depressed marking those quizzes. Haha, I TA an intro stat class. We were talking about confounding variables, and to the question "Please identify a reason as to why taller people have shorter hair," instead of the obvious confounding variable of gender (men tend to be taller and tend to have shorter hair due to societal norms), a student answered "maybe tall people think they look silly with long hair." I ended up giving him credit :<
At least at my university, intro stats assumed you took some stats in high school. The books were more about applying it to your field instead of actual books that taught you about stats.
So if you were like me and you took it in high school, it was easy; but if you were a newcomer, things were more difficult.
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16971 Posts
For us, it's meant to be accessible, and there are a bunch of intro classes for different majors that have different course material. For example, the intro stat course for econ majors tends to be harder than the one for the public policy majors. I TA the course for public policy majors.
None of them actually count for the statistics major, though. The first class in the statistics major is probability and it has calc 3 and linear algebra as prereqs. No current majors have taken any of the intro stat courses because they're wastes of time.
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On September 25 2011 15:51 Empyrean wrote:
For us, it's meant to be accessible, and there are a bunch of intro classes for different majors that have different course material. For example, the intro stat course for econ majors tends to be harder than the one for the public policy majors. I TA the course for public policy majors.
None of them actually count for the statistics major, though. The first class in the statistics major is probability and it has calc 3 and linear algebra as prereqs. No current majors have taken any of the intro stat courses because they're wastes of time.
Exactly. I TA the stats course for the life science, bio, and psych kids. You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces. But I can kind of understand why this stuff is hard for them to understand.
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On one hand I hate when professors stand in front of a class and talk about how students are getting dumber.
On the other hand students are probably getting seriously dumber.
@micronesia, what state do you teach in? (i.e. United States, not "despair" or something)
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On September 25 2011 16:00 Monoxide wrote:
You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces.
Oh man, when I was in law school, 95% of the class would go apoplectic if any math was involved whatsoever. If the professor asked someone for half of 3/8ths or 40% of 10,000, he'd get the same look as if he asked them to solve a third-order differential equation. It was amazing how many people with college degrees needed a calculator to do elementary school math.
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16971 Posts
On September 25 2011 16:53 ShadowDrgn wrote:Show nested quote +On September 25 2011 16:00 Monoxide wrote:
You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces. Oh man, when I was in law school, 95% of the class would go apoplectic if any math was involved whatsoever. If the professor asked someone for half of 3/8ths or 40% of 10,000, he'd get the same look as if he asked them to solve a third-order differential equation. It was amazing how many people with college degrees needed a calculator to do elementary school math.
I'm doing case prep with a girl who couldn't multiply two digit numbers by each other if they involved decimal points.
She's (well I guess we're) interviewing with BCG.
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On September 25 2011 17:40 Empyrean wrote:Show nested quote +On September 25 2011 16:53 ShadowDrgn wrote:On September 25 2011 16:00 Monoxide wrote:
You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces. Oh man, when I was in law school, 95% of the class would go apoplectic if any math was involved whatsoever. If the professor asked someone for half of 3/8ths or 40% of 10,000, he'd get the same look as if he asked them to solve a third-order differential equation. It was amazing how many people with college degrees needed a calculator to do elementary school math. I'm doing case prep with a girl who couldn't multiply two digit numbers by each other if they involved decimal points. She's (well I guess we're) interviewing with BCG.
I guess once you stop doing math, you start losing it.
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On September 25 2011 17:40 Empyrean wrote:Show nested quote +On September 25 2011 16:53 ShadowDrgn wrote:On September 25 2011 16:00 Monoxide wrote:
You can see the "afraid of math" look on their faces. Oh man, when I was in law school, 95% of the class would go apoplectic if any math was involved whatsoever. If the professor asked someone for half of 3/8ths or 40% of 10,000, he'd get the same look as if he asked them to solve a third-order differential equation. It was amazing how many people with college degrees needed a calculator to do elementary school math. I'm doing case prep with a girl who couldn't multiply two digit numbers by each other if they involved decimal points. She's (well I guess we're) interviewing with BCG.
lol i probably cant either, and im a 4th year mech eng. i cant remember the last time i did any calculations without a calculator
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As a high school math specialist (I got 100% math averages in my last 2 years, sup) I often wonder how someone finds calculations so difficult. I always found the math-english dynamics fascinating. People weak at english (like me T_T sup 50% english essay) find math to be their strongpoint, while people skilled at english struggle in math. I don't believe in the strict right brain vs left brain explanation because Einstein for example was predominantly right brained.
Can an english specialist explain to me? I feel like math is way easier because there is only one answer, and it can be found with enough work. English has interpretations and degrees of skill, which can be interpreted differently by different teachers.
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United States24644 Posts
On September 25 2011 16:21 jon arbuckle wrote:
@micronesia, what state do you teach in? (i.e. United States, not "despair" or something)
I know I've said it before but New York State
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On September 25 2011 18:13 Kid-Fox wrote:
As a high school math specialist (I got 100% math averages in my last 2 years, sup) I often wonder how someone finds calculations so difficult. I always found the math-english dynamics fascinating. People weak at english (like me T_T sup 50% english essay) find math to be their strongpoint, while people skilled at english struggle in math. I don't believe in the strict right brain vs left brain explanation because Einstein for example was predominantly right brained.
Can an english specialist explain to me? I feel like math is way easier because there is only one answer, and it can be found with enough work. English has interpretations and degrees of skill, which can be interpreted differently by different teachers.
Math=logic, once you've figured out the method you can do infinite problems. Not the case with English
At least that's how I've always viewed it.
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On September 25 2011 18:13 Kid-Fox wrote:
As a high school math specialist (I got 100% math averages in my last 2 years, sup) I often wonder how someone finds calculations so difficult. I always found the math-english dynamics fascinating. People weak at english (like me T_T sup 50% english essay) find math to be their strongpoint, while people skilled at english struggle in math. I don't believe in the strict right brain vs left brain explanation because Einstein for example was predominantly right brained.
Can an english specialist explain to me? I feel like math is way easier because there is only one answer, and it can be found with enough work. English has interpretations and degrees of skill, which can be interpreted differently by different teachers.
On September 25 2011 23:47 Complete wrote:Show nested quote +On September 25 2011 18:13 Kid-Fox wrote:
As a high school math specialist (I got 100% math averages in my last 2 years, sup) I often wonder how someone finds calculations so difficult. I always found the math-english dynamics fascinating. People weak at english (like me T_T sup 50% english essay) find math to be their strongpoint, while people skilled at english struggle in math. I don't believe in the strict right brain vs left brain explanation because Einstein for example was predominantly right brained.
Can an english specialist explain to me? I feel like math is way easier because there is only one answer, and it can be found with enough work. English has interpretations and degrees of skill, which can be interpreted differently by different teachers. Math=logic, once you've figured out the method you can do infinite problems. Not the case with English At least that's how I've always viewed it.
It's weird but "true" geniuses are good at both math and english/language because language is based on syntax, grammar, etc. which have common themes throughout the world. Words are functions with specific definitions, and you can form them into sentences with meaning just like equations.
Being able to use a language to state what you mean and derive meaning from it is like manipulating equations and variables to get the answer you want. Generally speaking, however, guys tend to be a bit better at math and girls at english... likely some genetic and social/environmental factors involved.
But yeah, I'm relatively good with math and crap with english.  I would suggest approaching language from a more logical point of view if you're struggling with it though.
All the stuff they teach you about 5 paragraph essay... use it. It's a good logical approach. Bring logical structure to your paragraphs. Eliminate superfluous words. It takes practice to get better at.
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Pray tell me why students were doing v=d/t? when they were 16/17 o_O
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On September 24 2011 12:36 micronesia wrote:
From a wellness perspective eating before you go to bed can negatively affect your sleep, I believe.
Excessive carbohydrates, yes.
Blunts growth hormone release during short wave sleep which main impair recovery of the body during sleep.
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United States24644 Posts
On September 26 2011 00:38 Soulish wrote:
Pray tell me why students were doing v=d/t? when they were 16/17 o_O
Do you mean why are they doing something so easy? Because they don't remember things they learned already in previous years :/
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Wow very amusing. Very basic, still even I got one question wrong.
I could only name one theory Charles Darwin is famous for...
The theory on evolution by means of natural selection.
I could not name another one :b
Well atleast I didnt get every question wrong!
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Good lord. I really hope that at least some of those were just the I don't know and I'll say something stupid answers.
education in this country sucks. Everyone wants to point to the teachers and everything besides the root of the problem: the dumbass parents. Whether it's because the parents both work two jobs or they just really don't give a shit, it's much easier to blame the teacher or the system instead of accepting that your kid is not a good student and it's because you're not involved at all.
I coach soccer and it's apparent there too. I always bug the kids about school since I know a lot of their teachers and without fail, the ones that are bad at school and general pains in the asses are always the ones whose parents don't care, don't show up, etc etc
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United States24644 Posts
On September 29 2011 02:38 Hawk wrote:
Good lord. I really hope that at least some of those were just the I don't know and I'll say something stupid answers.
education in this country sucks. Everyone wants to point to the teachers and everything besides the root of the problem: the dumbass parents. Whether it's because the parents both work two jobs or they just really don't give a shit, it's much easier to blame the teacher or the system instead of accepting that your kid is not a good student and it's because you're not involved at all.
I coach soccer and it's apparent there too. I always bug the kids about school since I know a lot of their teachers and without fail, the ones that are bad at school and general pains in the asses are always the ones whose parents don't care, don't show up, etc etc
Just had meet the teacher night...
In that ocean class, 3/31 kids' parent(s) came. In my AP class just about all came. Surprise surprise ._.
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Edit: I am an idiot. Forgive me.
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EPT
