Activity: Making statisfics fun!

Learning outcomes

By the end of the activity, students should be able to:

• Use one’s knowledge and skills to solve statistical problems effectively
• Communicate and debate with other team members the decision making process in order to come up with the best solution for specific statistical problems
• Help other team members understand the aforementioned decision making process
• Ask for help to other team members in order to understand statistical concepts and practical issues one has trouble understanding

As regards transversal skills, students should be able to:

Interpersonal and socio-emotional skills:

• Express ideas clearly and fluently
• Use precise and descriptive/content-specific vocabulary to enhance the topic or message
• Share information in an organized and interesting way
• Share an analysis of the main message to interpret, synthesise and/or evaluate the meaning of the content in order to draw a logical conclusion about the topic
• Show empathy and use non-verbal communication and active listening
• Perform tasks efficiently and carefully
• Persevere in the face of difficulties
• Develop positive and emotionally safe interaction and to develop and co-create teamwork
• Work cooperatively with others
• Create a non-discrimination atmosphere
• Facilitate conflict resolution, remain calm under pressure, and control one’s emotions in conflict situations

Brief description of the activity

The activity consists of a sequence of statistical problems that students have to solve in pre-established teams in order to win a final prize. If teams don’t solve each problem correctly, they will not be able to get to the next round of problems. Once a team has completed all the problems, they will earn a hint. But this hint, rather than the clue to the final prize, is part of the answer to one last problem. They need the hints of all groups to solve this last problem. Teams will only win the final prize if they share their hints with each other and work together to solve the last problem.

Activity plan: step by step

Before the activity

Description of the dynamics of the gamification. Students will have to find the solution to a sequence of statistical problems in order to get the code of a lock that secures a secret prize. Once each team solves a problem, they will be directed to the next one. They will not be able to move to a problem until they have solved the previous one. The number of problems to be solved is up to the facilitator of the activity, but it should not take students more than 1 hour to complete all the problems. Once a team has completed all the problems, they will get a hint. But this hint, rather than the code to the lock, is part of the answer to one last problem. To win the prize they will thus need to help other teams solve the problems to get their hints and, thereafter, solve the final problem and open the lock altogether. The facilitator of the activity should also decide whether the gamification will be performed through a digital software or not.

During the activity

Step 1. Explain the dynamics of the gamification to students, show them the teams that you built and make sure that they sit together and start to work as a team. This part should take between 10 and 15 minutes. 

Step 2. Be aware of how they work as teams. Encourage teamwork and make sure that those students who know and understand the solutions to problems explain these to others, rather than fast-giving the solution without extending their knowledge to others. If a team completes the problems before the other teams, make sure that they go help other groups. This part should take about 1 hour. 

Step 3. Once all the teams have their hints, make sure they work together to solve the final problem and win the prize. Make sure that all students participate in this last problem-solving activity and that they all feel as though they deserve the prize. This part should take between 15 and 20 minutes.

After the activity

Students should now have their prize(s) and now it is time of reflection. Make a short debriefing: ask them about their emotions, whether they felt overwhelmed during the activity and whether their peers aided them in overcoming this situation. Try to identify where and why teams did not work smoothly and altogether try to find an answer to what happened and what could have been done differently. You can also prompt whether there are good and bad ways to win and to lose. This part should take at least 30 minutes.

Role of teacher(s)

The facilitator will be an observer of the activity. S/he will only intervene if a team asks for help, but it is preferable to encourage students to help each other. S/he will also intervene if undesirable behaviour within or between teams is detected, or in the event that teams don’t work altogether to solve the last problem. 

Evaluation tool

Transversal skills are difficult to evaluate, particularly among big groups of students. Therefore, in this section we propose a tool for students to self-assess the development of these skills. The tool is divided into three dimensions: suitability of the learning activity, level of achievement of learning outcomes, and transferability to professional settings. You can adapt the dimensions and/or indicators that you use according to your teaching-learning context and needs. 

Evaluation tool to self-assess the development of skills during the activity

For each of the following statements, select the best answer on a scale from 1 to 4, where 1 means “Not at all” and 4 indicates “Yes, totally”. N/A means “not applicable”.

Download evaluation tool in pdf here.