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Mathematics Professor Conducted Webinar

Posted on Monday, November 8, 2010

Dr. Carolyn Cuff, Westminster College professor of mathematics, conducted an activity webinar Sept. 28 for the Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education (CAUSE).

Cuff presented her published work "Count the Fs: Why a Sample Instead of a Census?" for 44 participants. The participants were pleased with the presentation and planned to incorporate the activity in their classrooms.

"Students must confront their misconceptions before we can teach them new concepts," Cuff said. "Naively, a census is an accurate method to quantify a population parameter. A very brief, memorable, and easy-to-implement activity demonstrates that a census is, at best, difficult even for a small and easily enumerated population."

Under time pressure, students count the number of times the letter F appears in a paragraph. The activity demonstrates that a census, even when it is easy to take, may not give accurate information. Under the time pressure, measurement errors are more frequently made in the census rather than in a small sample.

Cuff, a 1978 Westminster graduate who joined the faculty in 1989, earned a master's and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University.

Contact Cuff at (724) 946-7291 or e-mail ccuff@westminster.edu for additional information.

Dr. Carolyn Cuff