Statistics 110A Policy, Spring '06

Statistics 110A, Spring 2006


Instructor:	Martha Wallace OMH 103 x3408 wallace@stolaf.edu www.stolaf.edu/people/wallace Office Hours on Web
Texts:	Rossman, Chance, and Lock, Workshop Statistics: Discovery with Data and Fathom, 2nd edition (bring to class each day) Workshop Statistics: Discovery with Data Student Toolkit
Necessary tools:	Fathom and Minitab (on St. Olaf network), willingness to think about, engage in, and enjoy investigating statistics
Nice to have:	If you have access to a TI-83 or TI-89 calculator, it will do many statistical tasks for you. However, you may bring any calculator to class, including the kind you might find a the checkout counter at a grocery store.

Grading Policy:	Class Participation	15%
	Homework	15%
	Car Project	5%
	Long-Term Project	15%
	3 Midterm Tests:	33%
	Final Exam:	17%

Attendance Policy:	Each class period involves active collaborative discovery and attendance is required at each class. More than three absences may lower your grade.

Course Logistics: As the title of your text suggests, this is a discovery class, which means that you will be actively involved in your learning. Most class days will start with a short quiz on the previous day's topic, then move to discovery activities on the next Topic. Finally, you will be assigned at-home activities and summary reading from the Student Toolkit. Exams will come roughly at the end of every two Units. Please bring your main text to class each day.

Homework and Collected Assignments: Homework will typically require both reading and writing, and will often include computer work. Homework is due at the beginning of the next class session. No late homework will be accepted. However, the three lowest daily homework scores will be deleted from consideration when grades are calculated, to allow for emergencies or illness. You are encouraged to work with other class members to do your homework assignments, but each student should hand in a complete assignment. The current and back assignments can be found on the class Moodle page.
Quizzes and Tests: In addition to homework assignments, you will have two kinds of assessments;

Frequent "card quizzes" will be short quizzes at the beginning of class covering the material that you were to read for that class. The purpose of these quizzes is to assess your understanding of the reading assignment and to structure class discussions. Missed card quizzes cannot be made up, but the three lowest card quiz scores will be dropped.
Mid-term and final exams will most likely include both take-home and in-class portions. The three mid-term tests and the final exam will be cumulative.

Getting Help: I am glad to answer questions or talk about your homework during my office hours and at other times by appointment. You may also get help from the other Statistics 110 professor, Michael Huberty in OMH 105. (Professor Huberty's office hours are posted on the class Moodle page.) You may also drop in to the Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Science Center 177 to ask an upper-class statistics student questions. Once CIR hours are set, they will be posted on the class Moodle page.
Disability Accomodations: If you have a documented disability for which accommodations may be required in this class, please contact Ruth Bolstad (bolstadr@stolaf.edu), Student Disability Services Specialist in the Academic Support Center (x3288) located in Room 1 of Old Main Annex.