Designed to prepare home school students for college, APStatsProf.com introduces an innovative, online curriculum in Advanced Placement (AP) statistics. Students need to purchase the text and a calculator; all quizzes, tests, projects, and answers are provided. Statistics is required of most college majors and students who score high on the nationwide AP exam can earn college credit at a fraction of the cost of a college course.
Dave Gilhousen, course creator states, The heart of the course consists of 90 15-minute videos which can be viewed at any time. The videos, created to accompany a leading text, engage student interest through humorous skits, activities, questioning and interactive problem solving. Though the curriculum flexibility is designed to appeal to home school students, small schools that lack a qualified instructor will also benefit.
Because most of the course is calculator based, the videos show how problems are solved through the Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus calculator. Students see each key press being highlighted along with a key stroke history to accompany algebraic and verbal explanation. Common student errors are illustrated.
The curriculum provides all the quizzes, tests, and projects that traditional high school students have. All of these plus step-by-step solutions are provided under a separate password controlled by the parent or teacher.
Gilhousen explains, Because of these features, students can work anytime. Many home school classes are webinars that tie the student to a specific time. These webinars typically cost $ 500 or more; my course costs $ 99.
Why AP Statistics? AP Statistics is the fastest growing AP course, exclaims David Bock, who taught math for 35 years at Ithaca High School, NY. Statistics is the most widely used branch of math. Youll never have students complaining, When are we ever going to use this stuff?. Students who score high on the AP exam in May can receive college credit at a fraction of the cost of a college course.
Statistics is required of engineering, business, pre-medical, political science, physical science, and many other majors. Yet, high school students who spend a year studying statistics understand it more deeply than many college students who take only one semester, emphasizes Bock. AP Statistics builds critical thinking skills better than calculus.
AP Statistics is more than just a math course. I teach elements of reading comprehension, technical writing, experimental design, political polling, logic and technical illustration, states Gilhousen. All of these elements serve to make it a good capstone course for many students, tying together knowledge from many courses.
Home education has constantly grown over the last two decades. The growth rate is 7% to 15% per year, according to Dr. Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute. Statistics from the United States Department of Education confirms this growth and reports that in 2007, the number of homeschooled students reached 1.5 million. This course is targeted to meet the college preparation needs of this growing number of students.
About the Author of APStatsProf.com
In addition to developing online curriculum for home school students, David Gilhousen, a former AP Statistics and science teacher at Northlake Christian School in Covington, LA, serves as adjunct business statistics instructor at the University of Phoenix. He is a retired National Weather Service research meteorologist who has developed statistical weather forecasts. For more information visit http://apstatsprof.com/
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