New Research Statistics course for 2020-2021
With the end of the second quarter quickly approaching, freshmen Aakash Vatti (left) and Raghav Tirumale (right) work on homework problems for Research Statistics 1 (RS 1). RS 1 is offered to freshmen in the fall semester, after which they take Jefferson’s unique math courses, such as Math 3.
January 18, 2020
Every new academic year, more and more classes are added to the Jefferson curriculum to provide further opportunities for students. One of the new classes being added for the 2020 – 2021 academic school year is Research Statistics 3 (RS3), which came about when mathematics teachers realized it was necessary for student research.
“About 2 years ago, we realized there was a need for more advanced statistical techniques to support some of the student research being conducted here at TJ. Since then, we have been developing a course syllabus and selecting topics for this course,” math teacher Dr. Scott said.
The process for creating a new class is a long one. It first gets proposed by the faculty of the school. Next, the proposal for RS3 is to be approved by the Math & Computer Science division. Finally, it goes to the school board, who sends it to the FCPS central office of administration. This long process is how new classes are added each year.
“New courses are proposed by faculty members. Once the proposal is approved by the division (in this case Math-CS division), it moves on to the administration and curriculum committee who decide if the course has merit at TJ. Once approved at the school level, the course proposal needs to be approved by FCPS central office administration,” Scott said.
To apply to the class students are to have already completed the courses RS1 and RS2. Students in the class will be learning how to use statistics to analyze graphs, and help with further studies.
“The practice of statistics today requires computer software, and another goal of this course is to have students create graphical displays, analyze data, and run tests using appropriate software. Students will complete a research project applying skills learned using data from a national database,” Scott said.
The class was created as RS2 students expressed a greater interest in learning more about statistics. Many students, upper and underclassmen, are excited for the new opportunity and have already expressed interest.
“As a freshman I am really excited about the new course, and am definitely interested in taking RS3 in later years,” freshman Sungjoon Kim said.
