In addition to all the great reasons to have students write, reasons that are relevant in many different fields, I require my students to write because without writing assignments I can't possibly teach statistics!

I regularly teach statistics 301, Introduction to Statistical Methods. Nearly all students take the course to satisfy one or more of the following requirements: campus QR-B, college math, or a school or departmental statistics requirement. A small number of students take 301 because they have discovered that it will help with a research project or job in the major. Finally, a very few enroll because of an inexplicable (perhaps innate? perhaps pathological?) interest in statistics.

I find this state of affairs to be extremely frustrating and annoying.

I love to learn about the world. I enjoy learning passively by, for example, reading, but I also enjoy active learning, by doing. And learning by doing can be greatly enhanced by even a basic understanding of statistics. It pains me that few people understand this basic feature of my field.

Sadder yet, few people who have completed an introductory statistics course realize how to use statistics to learn about their world. I tell my students that the fundamental goal in my course is to enable them to discover that statistics can be an important tool in their daily lives.

One way to work towards this goal is through the use of effective examples in lecture. But more is needed. Therefore, I require each student to use statistical ideas to study a problem in his/her personal life. Once a project is completed, the student, of course, needs to convey the results to me. Therefore, each project culminates in the submission of a written report.

I ask students to choose their own topics to investigate. Often they choose projects related to their majors. One advantage of this is that it allows students to test the theories they learn in their major coursework. For example, many of my students are business majors. They might choose to compare different sales strategies and their effects on customers.

Still other topics include personal hobbies such as sports, games, and pets. Students generate data that examine issues such as the following: Is more expensive sports equipment worth the extra money? What external factors influence my game performance? Which techniques yield better results? These are questions that can be answered only through statistics. In other words, students actively pursue whether statistical models apply to their personal behaviors. Their writing then allows for an interpretation of the subtleties of statistical data.

I list below the main benefits of assigning projects.

1. I learn a great deal about who my students actually are. I learn what undergraduates care about (not obvious to a 53-year-old statistician; many perform a great deal of volunteer work and seem to enjoy studying what they do). I learn their hobbies and pastimes. I learn their attitudes and beliefs.

2. I learn whether I have explained certain ideas well or poorly. Of course, exams serve this purpose too. But letting students write what they think is much more valuable than having them respond to my questions. (All parents have had similar experiences dealing with children.)

3. Many students remark that the projects were the best part of the course. This leaves me indescribably happy. To be sure, more than a few students satisfy only the bare minimum of the project requirement without exhibiting any enthusiasm for their topic. I think of these students as including those who have been indoctrinated into the idea that education—at least in the math sciences—is completely a case of fitting the round peg into the round hole.

4. Every semester several projects knock my socks off with the creativity and cleverness exhibited by their authors. (I’ve posted several excellent examples on my website. See below.)

5. I have learned that our undergraduates write very well. The written reports are, for the most part, a great pleasure to read. Surely, some of the credit must go to my colleagues across campus who teach writing to my students (the majority of my students are juniors).

In sum, asking students to present and report on their data can only go so far. I want to see evidence that they have thought about the work they have done. Writing allows them to make that extra leap, explaining why the project interests them and how they have learned from the exercise.¨

Browse Statistics 301 model projects on Professor Wardrop’s website, http://www.stat.wisc.edu/~wardrop/.