Project Goals

Infusing Data-Centered Pedagogy and Data-Analytical Skills into Introductory Statistics is an innovative instructional reconceptualization and redesign project aiming to transform the teaching of introductory statistics (intro stats) at North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T) through targeted infusions of data science (DS) knowledge and big data analytics tools in the high-stakes intro stats course to enhance the statistical and data-analytical skills of and promote DS literacy among underrepresented minority (URM) students. The project seeks to achieve three main goals: (1) Enhance students’ statistical knowledge and data-analytical skills gained from the intro stats course; (2) Create a pipeline for the new DS programs offered at A&T; and (3) Build a faculty cadre capable of and committed to teaching intro stats using a data-centered pedagogy to promote data literacy among undergraduate students.

This project is a faculty-driven, theory-informed and evidence-generating project that takes a develop-incorporate-assess approach to redesign the general education intro stats course at NCA&T resulting in a novel and replicable course design that does not only ensure development of statistical and data-analytical skills at early stages of college education for URM students but also prepares and entices STEM and non-STEM students to pursue DS education and careers.

The intro stats course at NCA&T serves more than 600 students annually (46% STEM majors, 82% African Americans, and 69% females). The redesign of the course includes the structure, content, and pedagogy. The course redesign adds a virtual statistical computing lab to the course in a way that carefully coordinates the lab sessions with the class sessions. The class and lab activities are designed to train students to think structurally with data, become data-savvy, and expose them, early and frequently, to the elements of the DS workflow. The redesigned course incorporates components directed to boosting students’ knowledge of DS educational and career opportunities.

Funding Source

This project is supported by a grant from the NSF HBCU-UP Target Infusion Projects (TIP) Program under Grant No. HRD 2106945.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), through Targeted Infusion Projects, supports the development, implementation, and study of evidence-based innovative models and approaches for improving the preparation and success of HBCU undergraduate students so that they may pursue STEM graduate programs and/or careers.

Project Team

The project team is comprised of experienced statisticians and mathematicians who are both effective educators and well-established researchers. The following is a description of the coordination of project activities among the team members.

Dr. Sayed Mostafa (PI and project coordinator) is an assistant professor of Statistics, course coordinator of MATH224 and director of the Statistical Computing Lab. He is responsible for overall project management. He leads the team efforts for developing materials for the new course design, teaches the new course with the virtual statistical computing lab supplement during the implementation, evaluation, and generalization stages of the new course design, leads the internal evaluations and data analyses, organizes the training workshops and lunch & learn for the faculty development, and leads dissemination efforts by presenting at conferences and seminar talks at peer institutions. More info.

Dr. Guoqing Tang (Co-PI), professor and chair of the Mathematics & Statistics Department, manages the engagement of faculty and graduate research assistants in the project and handles the scheduling of course sections included in the study. More info.

Dr. Seongtae Kim, Co-Principal Investigator, is an Associate Professor of Statistics in the College of Science and Technology at NCA&T, where he teaches both introductory and upper-level statistics and data science courses and serves as the Director of the Statistical Consulting and Analytics Center. He will participate in developing material for the new course design, will implement the new course design in his course sections, will participate in collection of internal evaluation data, will play a key role in disseminating the project results and products by giving conference and/or seminar talks and writing journal publications, and will present at the faculty development workshops and lunch & learn. More info.

Dr. Tamer Elbayoumi, Co-Principal Investigator, is an Assistant Professor of Statistics in the College of Science and Technology at NCA&T. He will participate in creating and revising course materials, implementing the new design, and collecting internal evaluation data. He will also contribute to disseminating the project results and products by giving conference and/or seminar talks and writing journal publications. Finally, he will be responsible for updating the project page on the Open Science Framework (OSF). More info.

Dr. Mingxiang Chen, Co-Principal Investigator, is a Professor of Mathematics in the College of Science and Technology at NCA&T. She has taught introductory statistics for about ten years. She will help with creating and revising course materials, will implement the new course design in her course sections, will help with evaluation data collection, and will facilitate generalizing the new course design to all course sections. More info.

Dr. Rebecca M. Eddy is the Founder and current President of Cobblestone Applied Research & Evaluation, Inc. She serves as Principal Investigator of the TIP Evaluation. More info.

Dr. Monique H. Matelski is the Director of Research and Evaluation at Cobblestone Applied Research & Evaluation, Inc. She served as Project Manager of the TIP Evaluation during the first year of project (2021-2022). More info.