Real-Life Inspiration for Your Statistics Course: Resource Round-Up
August 29, 2019
Back-to-school season is upon us, and we hope you’re getting ready for what’s sure to be your most useful and fun class to take (or teach!) this semester: statistics.
Statistics has countless real-world applications that can be useful for your daily life, so you’re making a smart decision that will impact your career, studies and life.
Whether you’re learning or teaching, we’ve rounded up some amazing resources that will inspire you during your statistics course this school year.
What’s Going On in This Graph
What’s Going On in This Graph is a free, online feature from ASA and The New York Times Learning Network. Students can analyze a graph that’s been previously published and answer the question, “what is going on in this graph?” to join the conversation with other students.
Weather Spark
Weather reports are a real-world application of statistics that you likely rely on daily, but do you know what data is involved? Weather Spark allows you to see graphical reports of monthly, daily and hourly weather of any location in the world.
These data visualizations are very detailed and interactive but can also be helpful when planning your next vacation!
Stats + Stories
The statisticians featured as guests on the Stats + Stories podcast are experts in their respective fields and give insight into their oftentimes groundbreaking research. The Stats +Stories team interviews statisticians who work in medical research, sports, education, politics and more.
Listen to an episode and see where statistics can take your future career.
Today’s episode features @StanfordPSY assistant professor Jane Paik Kim who joined us to discuss how her team is trying to test how useful wearable tech is.https://t.co/xbdB98GrWx pic.twitter.com/wU2JrpgYhD
— Stats + Stories (@statsandstories) August 9, 2019
Flowing Data
If you’re looking for insight into the data we see on a daily basis, then you’ll love Flowing Data. Founder Nathan Yau aims to uncover information hidden within data and aggregates a variety of data visualizations from Bloomberg, BBC, Washington Post, USA Today and more—as well as sharing his original projects. Yau even posts guides on how to tell a story with data through your own data visualizations, so you can get into the action too!
The Pudding
If we had to describe The Pudding in one word, it’d be cool. It’s web address is literally “.cool” and everything on this site highlights the cool-ness of statistics. The Pudding publishes visual essays focused on “items debated in culture,” and really makes you think twice about how and where statistics is relevant. The team of six journalist-engineers have created amazing visuals and interactive pieces that break down data in new, engaging ways.
This is Statistics Statistician Profiles
There are plenty of resources available to you right here! Our “Statistician Profiles” feature statisticians in diverse fields sharing about their background, research and expertise. We’ve interviewed statisticians and data scientists from Google, Electronic Arts, Amazon, CNN and more. Browse the archive to find where your passions and statistics meet, then discover what it’s really like in the field.
FiveThirtyEight
You (probably) know it, and you almost definitely love it. Analyst Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight launched in 2008 as a way to aggregate polling data but has since expanded to offer a statistics–driven perspective on politics, economics, sports, science and pop culture reporting. During the election season, FiveThirtyEight keeps live tabs on each candidate’s polling numbers and does the same for select sporting events. FiveThirtyEight’s sleek site is great for informative breakdowns of complex data and data visualizations that are relevant to today’s news.
Teachers, looking for even more resources for your class?
- TeachDataScience.com
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Resources
- Compilation of Statistics Grants, Fellowships and Honors
Related Posts
March Randomness: A New Spring Contest of Probability & Risk
For spring 2021, This is Statistics is introducing a brand new contest: March Randomness and the Probability 16, with prediction challenges to test your probability intuition all through the month of March! Whether you play on your own or on a team with friends, this year’s tournament—inspired by the captivating Borel board game—will keep the excitement…
In 2021, ‘Statistician’ Continues to be a Best Job
From monitoring pandemic impacts, to election projections, to social justice causes, the biggest issues of these times all have one thing in common: Statisticians and data scientists play an important role. So, it’s no surprise the new year’s job rankings put statisticians and data scientists high on their lists, continuing a trend of high rankings…