What is statistics?
Well, according to the beloved source of Wikipedia, it’s “the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data”.
Okay…but for an average (or mean, should I say) high school student, what is statistics? And is it worth a year to learn more about it?
As a current Stats student, even though I might be biased (which is frowned upon when collecting data), here is why the AP Statistics elective is very worth taking.
First off, the course is very accessible.
You don’t have to be in math team to take this class at all.
It’s taught by Ms. Gifford, who has a ton of experience teaching this course. Not only does she explain concepts very clearly, but all of the information is very organized. The curriculum is split clearly into units, and each unit has sections. You’ll never be left wondering where you are in the big picture.
When it comes to the actual content, we’re NOT tediously calculating numbers from a giant table with hundreds of numbers with never-ending decimals.
Instead, this class actually does more explanation than hard-core calculations. Every concept and technique is linked to a real-world scenario, so it’s really easy to understand why you plug in this and what you do with that. It’s also pretty friendly to visual learners since graphs come up pretty frequently (and no, the experience is not like the science section of the pre-ACT).
Next, the learning experience is more interesting than you might think.
While there are lectures and worksheets to do for practice, students frequently do hands-on activities. This year so far, they have used a hypothetical Taylor Swift concert to learn about random sampling, counted M&M’s to practice finding linear regressions, and thrown Barbies off a balcony to learn about scatterplots (don’t worry, they were fine). Often, the data they’re analyzing is collected by themselves!
As Ms. Gifford explains, “We do activities using M&Ms, Skittles, Goldfish, and Hershey's Kisses…The activities are fun and they help students learn difficult concepts in statistics. I also love that students use what they learn not only in academic classes, but also in their lives. Former students often visit me or email me to tell me the various ways their knowledge of statistics has helped them.”
Even as a member of the math team, it’s not very often for me to hear students being particularly excited about math. It’s easy to see why this core subject is challenging for most.
However, AP Statistics is a very unique branch of math. As students see through word problems, data-collecting activities, and analyzing surveys, this course feels more applicable to real-life.
If the only thing holding you back from loving math are abstract concepts that you don’t see helping you a few years down the road, this class is truly worth considering.
Some final words…
Because it’s not an extremely popular elective, the few students who take the course become part of a small community. You can meet people from other grades, and because there are many team and partner activities, you get to work with new peers all the time. If you’re in this class, you’re always working with Ms. Gifford and your peers towards a common goal: acing that AP Exam in May. With some consistent effort and under her guidance, students are typically very successful.
Lastly, this article wouldn’t be complete without sharing one of the biggest things that these students have in common: pursuing Ms. Gifford’s infamous fudgies.
As Timothy Li finds, fudgies are “the perfect combination of salty and sweet…It’s an explosion of chocolate in your mouth, and the chocolate filling melts immediately on your tongue. The Crisco crust is perfectly chewy to match the melty texture of the filling, and the crumbs and aroma permeate the classroom.”