Feb
Does Reading More Sci-Fi Boost Understanding of Stats?
A math mindset has a lot going for it I find. My life has definitly expanded in directions which are richer in meaning by cultivating a math mindful mind.
My first step was to view Stats as a language. Using mnemonics and schematics I was able to incorporate Stat lingo into my daily vocab~ and then use that to secure work in professional circles.
I am now investing time and effort to learn the formulas, beyond that of mean and SD
I use sci-fi to enter a world where math rules. Fantastic adventures and remarkable treasures and friendships (and of course, tragedy) await the reader, giving a subject like statistics a whole new context for me. One that I like.
Learning of new knowledge needs to be anchored to prior learning; thus new learning which is relevant to the learner will be assimilated & accommodated sooner.
Given that I lead my life as an adventure, I find it fun and exciting to adopt vocab and interpretations of events/people to be my filter for “meaning making”.
Thus theories and models that explain sets of data for a subject at uni become hats that I can wear to understand the world from which the data was drawn~ life.
Here’s what I mean. Award winning author Simon Haynes provides a brain squeeze (for some), couched in a sci-fi story about Hal Spacejock. Try it here:
Test your powers of observation with the Ball Test
BTW, if you enjoy British satirical sci-fi it is likely you will find Hayne’s novels a good read (here is a link to Hayne’s free book download).
At the moment there is not a lot of research into learning a subject like statistics and methods to aid learning. Humor has been identified as a core variable in communication of stat theory (Using humor to teach statistics: Must they be orthogonal?; ) and personal variables such as relevancy (The Greyhound Strike:Using a labor dispute to teach descriptive statistics) and motivation (Prior knowledge, attitude and strategy use in an introductory to statistics course) have long been known to influence learning.
Share your methods for learning new ways of thinking…?
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