UW Math 497 Autumn 2000; Th 4:30-6:50

Probability from the Ground Down

Instructor: Virginia Warfield

Department of Mathematics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

One of the current trends in mathematics is to add probability and statistics to the school curricula starting at the elementary level. This is a very sound idea, since those are subjects which everyone needs regardless of whether they are going to college. The drawback is that these subjects are only now beginning to be built consistently into teacher preparation, even at the secondary level.

This course will address that issue, focusing on two aspects:

1. Probability and statistics are constantly with us in daily life, but it is not always clear how and where. We will work on ways to recognize them and to import them into the classroom.
2. Probability in particular inspires a great deal of awe and alarm because the sources of confusion are inextricably mixed with the absolute basics of the field. It's not the abstruse and advanced elements that a teacher needs to have sorted out, it's the foundations. We will therefore concentrate on the foundations.

We will deal with the concepts which underlie the fields of both probability and statistics, and hope to make them clear enough so that at the end of the course anyone in it can face with confidence the questions even of a fifth grader.

The course format will be highly interactive, with a great deal of group problem-solving and both group and individual projects.

For more information send e-mail to < warfield@math.washington.edu>.