DAHLONEGA - Perhaps no other class strikes such fear in students as statistics, but two math professors at North Georgia College & State University have been awarded a nearly $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the best practices for teaching the course.
Drs. Dianna Spence and Brad Bailey, both associate professors of mathematics at North Georgia, will be continuing the three-year project called Authentic Discovery Projects in Introductory Statistics started by Spence and Dr. Robb Sinn. The four-year grant in the amount of $396,993 was announced Sept. 13.
In the first phase of the project, Sinn and Spence developed curriculum materials that were tested with a regional pilot group. In the second phase, Spence and Bailey will expand and improve the materials and test them at colleges and universities nationwide. Both professors are excited about the chance to share their work nationally, but their goal is to improve the methods for teaching statistics.
"Our primary goal is to improve the way that students learn statistics by making authentic projects part of their learning experience," Bailey said. "In addition, our research in this phase should give us insight into the nature of the challenges an instructor faces when guiding students in the implementation of such projects."
Both also professors credit support of their colleagues and the department in making the grant possible.
"We feel privileged to work in a department that supports the interests and professional development of its faculty," Spence said. "Our department head, Dr. John Cruthirds, fosters our professional growth by giving us the latitude, encouragement and resources to pursue these types of opportunities. The work we are undertaking would not be possible without the contributions of our exceptional and talented colleagues in the Department of Mathematics & Computer Science, many of whom are involved in this project."
Other faculty members assisting in the project include Drs. Tom Cooper, Sherry Hix and Marnie Phipps, who will serve as senior project personnel; and Sinn and Dr. Karen Briggs, who will serve as project consultants.
In addition to North Georgia, Spence also has taught at Woodward Academy, Georgia Perimeter College and Gwinnett Technical Institute. She worked as a software engineer at Knowlagent Inc. in Alpharetta before coming to North Georgia in 2005 and holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics, master's in computer science and doctorate in mathematics education.
Bailey has been at North Georgia since 2006 and holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in mathematics.
Wednesday
June 18th, 2025
11:26AM
