Although Paul can't quibble, I have to quibble a bit (although I can't quibble with its being described as cute - its cuteness is unassailable).
As someone who knows what the Central Limit Theorem is and its relevance for inferential statistics, I can follow it and understand what it is communicating. Trying to take the point of view of an intro student who doesn't know the relevance of the CLT or what it is, I have my doubts that it would mean much to them. One thing that I think would be confusing is, in the process of trying to make something that is largely theoretical come to life, they have the animated biological field worker decide that it would be too difficult to measure all of the rabbits in the population so, instead he is going to collect numerous samples of a particular size and then take the average of those samples to estimate the population average. Doing that would nullify the advantage of knowing the Central Limit Theorem. I think a student would reasonably ask, "how is it easier to take numerous samples and calculate a mean instead of just measuring all of the animals in the population?" And then they will wonder why, in the studies they read, researchers appear to be basing their results on only one sample. Rick Dr. Rick Froman, Chair Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Box 3519 x7295 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://bit.ly/DrFroman Proverbs 14:15 "A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps." From: Paul C Bernhardt [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, January 24, 2014 9:46 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] A Cute Way To Teach The Central Limit Theorem Thanks for sharing this. While I can quibble (I can always quibble), I think it is very good. Paul On Jan 24, 2014, at 9:25 AM, Mike Palij wrote: The website creaturecast.org<http://creaturecast.org> is a biology oriented site that provides short videos on various biological topics. If you go to www.creaturecast.org<http://www.creaturecast.org> right now, you'll find that the second from the top entry is on the central limit theorem (y'all know the CLT, right?) but in the context of ecological examples involving rabbits and dragons. The NY Times has the videos on their website but there you have to sit through an annoying video ad before you get the goods (thus, risking damage to your computer when you feel like hurling something at the screen; I find rubber brick are a satisfying object to hurl both at the computer screen and the TV when particularly stupid/misleading/offensive commercials are shown). Here's an example from the NY Time website on how cilia can be used for locomotion: http://www.nytimes.com/video/science/100000002665100/creaturecast-swimming-with-cilia.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140124 The ad before the video changes so you might a particularly annoying ad in which case make sure that you only have small books at arm's length. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263003&n=T&l=tips&o=33023 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-33023-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-33023-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5f8a&n=T&l=tips&o=33027 (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) or send a blank email to leave-33027-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu<mailto:leave-33027-13039.37a56d458b5e856d05bcfb3322db5...@fsulist.frostburg.edu> --- 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=33031 or send a blank email to leave-33031-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
