JHS students win national honor for statistics poster

  Monday, November 17, 2014 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

As legislatures and policymakers have increased the stakes associated with assessment tests, teachers in many states are left wondering how to encourage students to take the exams seriously.

Adam Bennett, a Pittsburg State University alumnus and math teacher at Joplin High School, said research conducted by two students in his statistics class may offer clues to ways to encourage at least some students to do their best on state assessments.

The students, Nazhath Sulthana and Sadie Wallner, received a first-place award from the American Statistical Association this year for their poster, “Is This for a Grade?” The students won in the Grades 10-12 category.

Bennett said the idea for the research began as conversation between teachers.

“The idea for the project came about when a few teachers were discussing whether common assessments should be taken for a grade,” Bennett said. “I told my statistics class about the debate to see what they thought and Sadie and Nazhath volunteered to do a study exploring the question.”

Bennett said the research involved six classes of students. Three of the classes were told the assessment test they were about to take was for a grade. The other three were told that it was not.

Bennett said what the student researchers discovered was enlightening.

“For high performing students – those A and B students – there was no difference,” Bennett said. “But for all other students, knowing the test was for a grade caused them to perform much better.”

Bennett said that although it was a big honor to have the poster and the research honored by a national group, he was already extremely proud of the work the students put into the project.

“Sadie and Nazhath worked incredibly hard on their poster and the study,” Bennett said. “I had them revise it numerous times and we even had to make some final corrections over spring break.  I was proud of the depth of the work the girls did and the enormous effort they made to do outstanding work.”

Ananda Jayawardhana, a professor in the PSU Department of Mathematics, recently visited Joplin High School to present the awards to Sulthana and Wallner. Jayawardhana said the PSU Math Department and the MOKAN-National Association of Teachers of Mathematics judge regional entries and then pass their top three picks from the local competition on to the national level.

Jayawardhana said competitions like this highlight the practical applications of mathematics and statistics and reward students for their hard work.