APStats course syllabus

Course Description and Syllabus for Advanced Placement Statistics
Harvard Westlake 2005-2006

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Instructor:
William Thill (phone: 818-487-6538, email: wthill@hw.com)

What is AP Statistics About?
Course Materials
Course Expectations
Grading

A note on academic honesty: Let's be clear.

What is statistics About?

Statistics is the discipline and science of making sense out of variation. Anything that can be measured will vary from case to case. A good statistician is searching for the aswers to the following questions:
- What exactly do we want to measure?
- What's the best way to measure it? How do we get good information?
- How do our measurements vary? By how much?
- "So what?" What can we conclude, based on what we know?

Course Materials

Textbook: Bock, Velleman and DeVeaux: Stats, Modeling Our World, 1ed, Addison Wesley Publishing, 2004.
Supplemental Study Giude: Preparing for the AP Statistics exam, Bock.
Supplemental Reading: How to Lie with Statistics
TI 83 Plus
Access to a PC or Macintosh computer (Provided in Chalmers, Room 306 at H-W)
ACTIV STATS - a computerized statistics textbook (packaged with the textbook)
DataDesk - a statstics analysis program (packaged with the textbook)
Zip Disk or Floppy Disk, and an awareness of how to access your student account at H-W
3 ring binder with room for notes, handouts, data sets, tests, and quizzes.

NOTE : It is expected that students will have Internet access, ActivStats, and DataDesk installed on a home computer. If not, students will be expected to occasionally complete certain assignments / lessons in the computer labs at school. Nearly all assignments can be completed by hand or by using the TI 83 Plus. However, students will get much more out of the course by having easy access to a computer on a regular basis. Students are strongly encouraged to use the computer for any assignment.

Course Expectations

To come to class alert, on time, ready to work, listen, and contribute.
To complete homework activities thoroughly, earnestly, and accurately.
To ask questions to yourself, your peers, and the teacher when ideas / questions are difficult to understand.
To demonstrate academic honesty on every task you do. (more on academic honesty.)

Grading:

Tests / Major projects: 40%	Daily Work: 40%	Semester Exam: 20%
Assigned after every chapter. Major assignments may involve in-class tests, major projects, or a combination of both. In most (but not all) cases, students will have access to the TI-83 Plus.	DAILY REGULAR HOMEWORK should be done thoughtfully and completely, using complete sentences/ thoughts, with supporting evidence. When graphs and tables asked for, they need to be written down. Students may use the computer or the TI-83 at any time to assist them in their work. One homework grade given each chapter, on a 10 point basis. As you come in to class and discuss homework assignments with peers, the teacher will stop by and see if you spent a sufficient effort on the assignment. You lose 1 or 2 points form this grade every time you have a missing or an incomplete assignment. TURN-IN's : Some assignments will require you to turn in one or two problems to be checked for accuracy and thoroughness. 0 to 5 points are given for each question. Turn in's must be done on a separate sheet of paper, and given to the teacher at the beginning of class. Grading system designed to mimic AP Statistics grading Rubrics. See the DAILY POINTS CHART. Quizzes: Short, 10-15 minute quizzes on a key topic. Always announced.	SEMESTER EXAM: given at the first semester. The exam is designed to measure not only mastery of skills, term and definitions, but also your ability to think statistically.