Teaching Natural Sciences To Social Science Students? 265
An anonymous reader writes "As a calculus professor for a small undergraduate institution, I normally lecture students who are majoring in the natural (or 'hard') sciences, such as mathematics, physics, and computer science. In fact, I have done so for almost thirteen years. However, for the first time this fall semester, we have a shortage of professors on our hands. As a result of this, I have been asked to teach a general education statistics class. Such classes are a major requirement for the large psychology student body we have here. I have never lectured social science students in any mathematics-related classes. My question to the Slashdot community is as follows: What are your experiences with teaching natural science classes to social science students? How is the experience the same or different in comparison to natural science students who may be more adept to the nuances of mathematics and other similar fields?"
Keep it simple (Score:3, Informative)
Avoid using overly abstract concepts, and try to put things in terms they can understand. Since you are teaching statistics, try to use a lot of gambling references (lotto, roulette, etc.) since nearly all the students will have some familiarity with those.
I've found I can teach engineering concepts to elementary school teachers as long as I avoid formulae (and avoid using Latin references, so use the term "formulas" :-) ).
I'd recomend showing how it's relevant. (Score:5, Informative)
A major problem with these sorts of courses is that they're often not taught in a way that emphasizes their utility to the student. If you're thinking about being a psychologist for example why is calculus important? I'm not saying it isn't. I can think of several different ways it could be very important especially as it regards understanding statistics.
But you might want to create some test questions that relate to their majors.
In business calculus they focus on it's relationship to various economic calculations. So you might want to look at drug trial statistics or anthropological/demographic statistics.
And for the love of God... please tell them that correlation is not causation. You'd be doing everyone a huge favor. These guys are going going write stupid papers or write blogs or something similar that will pop up in the media. And everyone here at slashdot will be facepalming over another dumb paper that didn't acknowledge that simple fact.
Just saying.
Re:It's not Special Ed (Score:3, Informative)
Step one when teaching a class like this: ask the department that they are in what these students will need to know and why it is a required class.
When I was forced to teach introductory logic to mathematics majors, that is what I did. Not only did it make my examples something they were more familiar with, but it also caused me to change my curricula that I offered by skipping certain things they didn't need (e.g. square of opposition) and focusing more on what they do need (e.g. WFFs and formal systems).
So, don't ask slashdot, ask the psychology department.
Re:Keep it simple (Score:3, Informative)
One book you should check out is Larry Gonick, Cartoon Guide to Statistics. I taught statistics to general ed students eons ago, and I found the textbooks uniformly execrable. recently, I had a couple of pals who had been forced twice to drop business stats, which were essential to getting their BBA degrees. I suggested the Gonick book, which I had recently found. One guy got a B the other, a C. it is a superb intro, largely due to the cartoon aspect.