I have been in a faculty workshop this week that included a discussion of "Academically Adrift". Although the book itself is not likely on the beach reading lists of many parents of college-bound students this summer, I am sure that it is having a major impact in informing how the media presents the issues (I think journalists are either reading it or synopses of it).
One of the workshop presentations included an appeal to take the criticisms of academe in the book seriously and see what we can take from it (although, seriously, it doesn't seem to be targeting our type of institution). Another presenter offered a critique of the statistical methods used (including a discussion of Type I and Type II errors and the meaning of statistical significance). It just reminded me of the extent to which a statistical education should allow for the understanding of stat, research and testing concepts (the book includes a lot on the reliability and validity of the CLA as a measure of critical thinking) in books intended to inform the public about important issues. For another example, in the same workshop, Gladwell's concept of 10,000 hours of practice for expertise was raised in the context of the question, "how can students spend so many years in school (well over 10,000 hours) learning and then be so much less than experts at it in college?" To me, the obvious answer was that they don't have 10,000 hours of practice in studying as they need to do it to succeed in college. Their experience and training has only been in how to succeed at the primary and secondary levels (at which most of them are truly experts). What I would like to do in my upper level stat/research class this semester is provide a list of books from which students could choose one to critique by applying their accumulated knowledge of statistics, research methods (and possibly Psych Testing concepts) to the analysis in the book. So I am looking for non-fiction books of the type written so prolifically by Malcolm Gladwell, et al. Note that I am not looking for text books or other ancillary materials that are entirely accurate or excellent in their handling of statistical issues. The only requirement is that they be popular books that have the capacity to shape the direction of the cultural conversation in many important areas that my students could use to test their ability to critique for statistical and methodological rigor. Thank you for any ideas you can pass along. I will compile a list of suggestions and post it back to the list. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences John Brown University Siloam Springs, AR 72761 [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=19599 or send a blank email to leave-19599-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
