Listmembers,
I guess I am a relic. I teach all the computational formulas, right up to the
basic regression and one-way ANOVA procedure.
Using my own egocentric point of view, I could never survive those courses
"Math for ________" (fill in behavioral science, business, or whatever) that
taught how the formulas work without demanding that the student carry out
many examples.
In math, if I haven't done it with my own brain, I find that I don't really
understand it. And I teach the computational formulae from that stance. But
maybe that's just me - my own deficiency or stupidity or "learning
disability" or whatever.
Am I really doing my students a disservice by demanding that they know how to
compute the basic statistics before they start using software? I gotta think
about it.
Nancy Melucci
Uncertain affiliation for Spring
