[18705] in s-news-athena
[S] Summary: Introductory level Stat courses based on S-PLUS.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Paul Y. Peng)
Thu Jul 22 09:52:21 1999
Message-Id: <3797217C.7029DF1D@math.mun.ca>
Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 11:19:48 -0230
From: "Paul Y. Peng" <ypeng@math.mun.ca>
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I posted the following message regarding introductory level Stat
courses based on S-PLUS a few weeks ago. It seems that this kind
of course has been taught and textbooks for this course have been
working on by several S-PLUS users. I apologize for this late
summary and would like to thank all who replied my inquiry.
Original message
----------------
> Is there anybody who has successfully used S-PLUS to teach
> introductory level Stat courses? I like to seek advice on pros
> and cons of this way, comparing with MINITAB which seems to be
> the most popular in these Stat courses. Or is there any appropriate
> introductory level textbook based on S-PLUS? Thanks.
Doug Wiens <wiens@stat.ualberta.ca>
-----------------------------------
> send your e-mail to Chris Field at Dal. I think he (or Dave Hamilton,
> also at Dal) has taught a course like you mention.
I contacted Dr. Field and he didn't recommend a textbook.
Andreas Krause <Andreas.Krause@genedata.com>
--------------------------------------------
> If you search for an introductory level book:
> a book written by me and a colleague originated as a manuscript for
> Splus/statistics courses at university undergraduate level. Details are at
> http://users.ch.genedata.com/~andreas/doc/splus-book/
> Sorry for the ad...
Having read sample pages of this book at the website, I believe
it may be more appropriate to use it at a higher level undergraduate
course than an introductory level.
Jonathan Hao <jhao@frbchi.org>
------------------------------
> "An Introduction to S and S-Plus" by Spector is very good text for an intro
> course.
> I don't have any experience teaching computer software package. However, as
> a user, I think S-Plus has a lot
> more flexibility. For those people who have experienced programming in C
> they will find S-Plus easy to pick up.
Like the book by Andreas Krause and Melvin Olson above, I think
it is good book for a high level undergraduate course. I actually
used it in such a course.
James B. Ramsey <ramseyj@fasecon.econ.nyu.edu>
-----------------------------------------------
> I am just in the process of completing an introductory stat. textbook
> that uses S-Plus the student GUI version to illustrate all problems,
> to porvide labs that enalbe sthe student ot calculate on his/her own
> everything done in the text, to run simulations and experiments.
> We are using the basic S-Plus disk plus a set of labs that we(in
> conjunction with Joe Newton & Jane Harvill) have created, plus a few
> other routines.
> The book is described and there are some fairly recent examples of
> the exposition of the text posted on my web page at:
> http://www.econ.nyu.edu/user/ramseyj/TEXTBOOK/textbook.htm.
This book is written for an introductory level statistics course.
Although the description in the book does not use S-PLUS explicitly
(based on the two chapters on the website), the authors make use of
the student GUI version of S-PLUS and provide S-PLUS disks, which
makes this book promising for this kind of course.
Jane L. Harvill <harvill@math.msstate.edu>
------------------------------------------
> James Ramsey of NYU is writing an introductory statistics textbook
> that uses (the Student Edition) of S-Plus. Joe Newton (Texas A&M) and I
> are also a part of this project. We are writing the StatConcepts labs in
> S-Plus (for information on these labs, see the URL
>
> http://www2.msstate.edu/~harvill/teaching/statconcepts/).
>
> I am under the impression that this "enhanced version" of the
> Student Edition of S-Plus will be sold with the book. I think the
> combination of the book, labs, and software should make teaching intro.
> stat courses using S-Plus much easier.
>
> I believe the hope is that the book will be ready for use no later
> than Spring, 2000, and hopefully as early as Fall, 1999. But I am not sure
> about this.
I look forward to seeing this book soon.
Steve Friedman <friedman@sunfish.gis.umn.edu>
---------------------------------------------
> I'm not a teacher, but a PhD candidate. I've had classes where
> professors use there own stats package, SAS, Splus, and minitab
> (a long time ago). My fustration with this is that every time
> I've enrolled in a new stats class, I either had to purchase
> a new software package or invest time to learning a brand new
> language. Splus is very good, the GUI that is now part of
> the Windows/NT version should make this a very smart choice.
> The flexibility of Splus is much larger (in my opinion) than
> other packages. Lots of built in functions for simple things, and
> it is also a programming language (steep learning curve) where
> folks with ambition can explore and expand. Not to mention the
> Splus list, and user contributed libraries.
This is what I thought. Most of statisticians in our department
use S-PLUS or SAS for their researches, but we have to use MINITAB
to teach undergraduate stats course, partly because we only have
textbooks on MINITAB.
Albyn Jones <jones@reed.edu>
----------------------------
> The learning curve is steeper than for minitab, so it takes
> more effort to make it work in the courses. I think it is
> harder now than it was in 1986 when more of the students had
> been exposed to unix; now everyone comes with lots of
> MAC or Windows experience, and very few with unix: they are
> a bit offended by any typing of commands, having to remember
> syntax, etc. I don't get any help from other departments, who
> persist in using their favorite software (SPSS in sociology,
> SAS in psych, and various Mac software in bio and econ, eg statview)
> Other faculty complain because I don't use their favorite software
> (how could I ?-)
> Here at Reed students do a senior thesis project as part
> of their graduation requirements; S+ really pays off for those
> who are doing anything even slightly non-standard.
>
> I haven't found any book that really works as a text. I put the
> standard S references on reserve in the library (BCW, C&H, V&R) -
> some fraction of the students get in the habit of reading these,
> others never try. I also have online lab notes with examples,
> and course notes with examples. Lots of examples really helps.
I think S-PLUS 4.0 or later version has changed the face of S-PLUS
a lot and now it has a quite similar interface as other Windows
or Mac programs, which makes it possible to use it in a low level
course. I agree with you that it is not easy to teach students
using command-driven S-PLUS on Unix in their stats courses, even for
senior students.
Madeline Bauer <mbauer@usc.edu>
-------------------------------
> My experiences relate only to one-on-one to facilitate learning with highly
> motivated medical colleagues, but with that caveat, I have found that
> these colleagues like Bill Cleveland's book, Visualizing Data. He provides
> the essential basics to introductory statistics and you can get all
> of the datasets and the S+ scripts from Statlib.
>
> Given the positive feedback from these colleagues (including one
> high-school junior), I would certainly use this book _IF_ ever faced
> with the challenge of teaching intro stats to a whole classroom!
After knowing this experience, I will certainly like to try it
if I have highly motivated mature students in the future. S-PLUS
trellis package should make this job enjoyable.
David W. Smith <David-Smith@ouhsc.edu>
--------------------------------------
> I think Harvard's School of Public Health uses S+ for its intro courses.
> Contact Marcello Pagano or find the web site for his course.
Unfortunately I didn't find the website.
Thanks.
Paul.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Y. Peng, PhD http://www.math.mun.ca/~ypeng
Assistant Professor of Statistics Phone: (709) 7378080
Department of Mathematics and Statistics Fax: (709) 7373010
Memorial University of Newfoundland
St. John's, NFLD A1C 5S7, Canada Email: ypeng@math.mun.ca
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