Make-Believe Problems

[Catholic]

I am teaching a Statistics class and frequently write practice and test questions using fictitious settings and arbitrary numbers, as is sometimes done in textbooks. I try to preface the problems by saying, “Pretend that . . .” so that the students realize they are not real, but I was wondering whether this is still a dishonest practice. Any comments would be great.

 

[The_Angelus]

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with make believe problems, as long as they’re easy to solve! Former stats student speaking here…

Btu seriously, there’s nothing morally wrong with hypothetical problems. Pretending that Jane has two apples and Bobby has six apples is not a sin or lying. You are pretending for the sake of solving a mathematical problem and improving your mind, not making these people believe that it is a matter of absolute truth that Jane has two apples and Bobby has six. The intent is not to deceive, the intent is to solve the problem.

 

[Kay_Cee]

Jesus used fictitious situations (parables) to prove a point.

 

[Pug]

The trend in teaching statistics these day is to use real life data and situations to the maximum extent possible. For example, you can collect data from your students (say their heights, which will be sort of normally distributed) and keep reusing that data set to demonstrate stuff. However, older students might object to providing some data, so just reuse a data set from a previous, more compliant group (I’m being a little kooky here).

Two resources I recommend, though I don’t know the level you are talking about, are:

exploringdata.cqu.edu.au/ (has lots of worksheets and data sets)

amstat.org/publications/jse/ (is an actual journal with decent articles)

If I want to demonstrate the mode, sure, I just slap up some numbers. But in general, I am obedient, and try to use real data from somewhere.

I don’t think you are being deceptive! And feel free to ignore any advice I have given.

 

[Pug]

:crying:I didn’t mean to kill your thread!:crying:

 

[Liberian]

:crying:I didn’t mean to kill your thread!:crying:

Pug,

Don’t sweat it. Statistics classes have a reputation for being deadly by themselves.

Catholic,

I would take it as “given” that unless the teacher uses the names of well-known real-life entities, the students will understand that these are made-up problems. I don’t see a moral problem here at all.

• Liberian

 

[BlestOne]

Catholic,
I don’t think hypothetical situations or descriptions are dishonest. If we believed that this is true then we would have to burn our childrens hands to teach them that the stove is hot or throw them over a cliff to demonstrate what would happen if their friends did it. Hmmmm…No I guess I can’t do that…Hmmmmm… Oh well it was a pleasant thought for a minute…KIDDING.