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Abstracts for Session 9
Saturday, 11:00am
- 9A. Susan Holmes, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA,
Probability by Surprise: Teaching with Paradoxes
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In our probability classes, we try to unify the presentation of
probability to a heterogenous audience through the interest we have in
things that surprise us. Some examples we use include: The Birthday
problem, Say Red, Russian Roulette, de Mere's Problem, Monty Hall.
The tools we've developed are based on discoveries by cognitive
psychologists (in particular Tversky and Kanneman) over the last 20
years and have not as yet been used in teaching probability in this
country. We include simulation programs, to give students a feel for
probability, and animated scenarios, to help motivate, amuse, and make
the material more memorable.
Our project weaves together with applets in an "Introduction to
Probability" web-site:
http://www-stat.stanford.edu/~susan/surprise/index.html
It includes:
links to useful existing calculus material such as explanations of
integration and summing rules;
interactive Venn diagrams, probability trees, densities as limits of
histograms;
relevant graphical animations written in Java;
historical material about probability;
animations and simulations developed specifically for the course; and
lists of team-oriented project ideas that enable the students to try
out their new computer simulation skills and compare these results to
those of classical probabilistic analyses. Even high school teachers
with no training in probability will find this of interest, and
we make available, online, all the class notes complementary to the
applets.
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