Anne Larson Quinn

Technology Review: Statistics Web Apps

At the end of the semester, I have students analyze data of their own. During previous semesters, the weakest part of the project is when students collect data from “convenience samples.” This changed when I discovered the Census at School [1], a web-based app that allows users to take random samples from real data. The data in Census at School is input by 4th through 12th grade classrooms across the country. It is relatively simple for teachers to set up a classroom account. Students then upload their answers to 60 questions to the site. Questions cover qualitative variables (such as favorite sport, food, and superpower), discrete variables (such as number of texts sent per day and hours slept per night), and continuous variables (such as reaction time and foot length). Although only 4th through 12th grade students are allowed to upload their information to the national database, the site is available to everyone in order to download random samples. To do this, select “Random Sampler” on the website. In retrieving data, users can choose a sample size (10 to 500) and can restrict the data based on geography (including all or some states), age (some or all grades), gender, and collection year. See Figure 1 for sample student data.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: GRAPH THEORY SMARTPHONE APPS

Summary We consider how two graph theory smartphone apps can be used in the classroom. Examples include showing that two graphs are isomorphic, that a graph is planar, that a graph is not planar by use of Kuratowski′s theorem, determining a graph′s crossing number, and determining whether a graph is bipartite.