This assignment is designed to be used in Introductory Statistics at the end of the semester. However, feedback from colleagues at NILOA indicated that it could be adapted to multiple classes where explaining analytical inquiry is a critical component. For example, comparing and contrasting philosophical questions and applying the principles of chemistry, biology, physics, and math to solve problems are but two examples.

This assignment is intended to assess Intellectual Skills and Applied Learning at the B.A. level, but more specifically the WASC [Western Association of Schools and Colleges] competency Quantitative Reasoning. It assumes students have mastered the quantitative content, according to Maki (2004). Bloom’s cognitive domain would place the level at synthesis/evaluation, or, according to the revised taxonomy, the evaluation/creation level. Creating requires users to put parts together in a new way or synthesize parts into something new and different, a new form or product. This process is the most difficult mental function in the new taxonomy (Wilson, 2013). It also assumes a high level of yet two other WASC competencies, Critical Thinking and Oral Communication.

According to the Lumina Foundation (2011), a critical fluency in Intellectual Skills is oral communication. In quantitative applications, analytical inquiry lies at the core of intellectual skills, encompassing what we do when we think for example, scrutinizing, managing and configuring knowledge prior to communicating findings, perspectives and interpretation. The Applied Learning outcomes make it clear that, beyond what graduates know, what they can do with what they know is the ultimate benchmark of learning (Lumina, 2011, p. 8).

Action verbs in these DQP proficiencies that can be used to guide construction of the assignment include:

• Construct coherent presentations on technical issues
• Translate verbal problems into mathematical algorithms
• Quantitatively evaluate information
• Differentiate and evaluate theories and problems
• Explain how analysis was conducted to find meaning (Lumina, 2011, p. 20)

We are using a conscious strategy across all sections of statistics to assess a few of the complex Intellectual Skills. These include the idea of subdividing assessments as elucidated by Carol Geary Schneider. By using the subdivide strategy, we hope to help students actually connect the different parts of their educational experiences and learning, to prepare them for the complex and unscripted problems they will encounter in the workplace, the public sphere, and in their personal lives (Schneider, 2013, 28).

• analytic inquiry in the development of the research questions and hypotheses
• communication fluency in the oral presentation
• quantitative fluency in the use of statistical tests
• use of information resources to support and defend the research questions

Reflections

In the assignment, students are assigned to a group for the purpose of preparing a review of specified student learning outcomes (slos). These slos correspond to the material covered from the third exam to the end of class, and include dependent t, independent t, correlation, regression, and ANOVA. The review will take the form of a 10 to 15 minute oral presentation. The exact format of the oral presentation will be rap, comedy, Broadway musical, sitcom, Jeopardy, sports talk show, news program, etc.