During the summer of 1999, 50 high school statistics teachers met on the campus of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) for an intensive, four-week institute on the theory of statistics. All of the teachers were experienced teachers of statistics who have developed an understanding of statistics that goes beyond the AP curriculum.

During a week in the summer of 2000, seventeen of these teachers returned to NCSSM to create materials that would help them teach the sections in the AP course on experimental design. These materials were produced with the help of Linda Young, of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and Jeff Witmer, at Oberlin College. We hope they will be of use to all statistics teachers you in their classes.

These materials should be used in conjunction with the material on Experimental Design from the summer of 1999. These materials can be found at

http://courses.ncssm.edu/math/Stat_Inst/Notes.htm

In particular, teachers should read the sections on Completely Randomized Design, Complete Block Design, Another Look at ANOVA, and the Paper Towel Experiments.

Outline of Topics

The Helicopter Project

Experimental Design Project: Helicopters

Helicopter Theme and Variations

Sample Student Designs

Helicopter t-tests

Helicopter Linear Regression

Blocking

Blocking Activity

Teacher’s Notes

TI-83 Instructions

Sampling Exercise -The River Problem

Web-Based Resources and Activities for Teachers of AP