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Alex Reinhart
refsmmat.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2012
Alex Reinhart, a statistician, writes about statistical errors, the history of statistics, math education, and interactive textbooks.
What HN saysHN commenters cite his work on statistics and pedagogy, including his history of "How to Lie with Smoking Statistics" as tobacco-lobby propaganda and his pedagogy notes.
16HN people shared it
7linked it in comments
15stories submitted
529story points
3 months agolast shared
2012people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Statistics Done Wrong – The woefully complete guide4 people · 339 points · first shared 2012 · 70 comments on HN
- 2The history of “How to Lie with Smoking Statistics” (2014)4 people · 88 points · first shared 2019 · 45 comments on HN
- 3The Unreasonable Ineffectiveness of Mathematics Education2 people · 79 points · first shared 2012 · 91 comments on HN
- 4Statistics Done Wrong2 people · 2 points · first shared 2012 · 1 comments on HN
- 5Some Ideas of Interactive Textbooks1 people · 6 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 6The Unreasonable Ineffectiveness of Mathematics Education (2012)1 people · 4 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 7Review: Neil Postman's 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' (2016)1 people · 3 points · first shared 2026 · discussion on HN
- 8Where are the interactive textbooks?1 people · 3 points · first shared 2015 · discussion on HN
- 9R's Lists and Its Detestable Dearth of Data-Structures1 people · 2 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
- 10Statistical Programming Languages1 people · 2 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 11Shut Up and Listen to Your Students1 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 12Gnome physics1 people · first shared 2022
- 13Regression1 people · first shared 2013
- 142012 10 19 shutup1 people · first shared 2016
- 152016 01 22 stat computing1 people · first shared 2016
What HN people wrote when they linked it
wrp · 2018-04-24
One of the best articles covering this issues is Meehl[1][2]. You can find discussion in various places like Gelman[3] and Reinhart[4].
[1] Meehl, Paul E (1990). Why summaries of research on psychological theories are often uninterpretable. Psychological Reports, 66(1), 195–244.
[2] http://meehl.umn.edu/files/144whysummariespdf
[3] http://andrewgelman.com/2015/03/23/paul-meehl-continues-boss/
[4] https://www.refsmmat.com/notebooks/meehl.html
capnrefsmmat · 2017-08-05
I keep a notebook with a list of references on pedagogy, including active learning:
https://www.refsmmat.com/notebooks/pedagogy.html
The Peer Instruction section features a great deal of research in introductory physics courses, where well-implemented active learning methods can double or triple student learning of core concepts. (I also blogged about this research long ago: https://www.refsmmat.com/posts/2012-10-19-shutup.html)
Students in intro physics classes tend to memorize the formulas but don't have any conceptual understanding, and active learning seems to dramatically improve the conceptual understanding without harming the ability to solve typical calculate-the-force problems.
Happy to discuss or send PDFs if you're not able to obtain them. My email is in my profile.
tokenadult · 2013-01-14
The more important difference between mathematics education in Japan and mathematics education in (say) the United States is how hard the problems are and the encouragement to pupils in Japan to try to figure things out for themselves.
I put instructional methodologies to the test by teaching supplemental mathematics courses to elementary-age pupils willing to take on a prealgebra-level course at that age. My pupils' families come from multiple countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean Islands. (Oh, families from all over the United States also enroll in my classes. See my user profile for more specifics.) Simply by benefit of a better-designed set of instructional materials (formerly English translations of Russian textbooks, with reference to the Singapore textbooks, and now the Prealgebra textbook from the Art of Problem Solving),
http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Store/viewitem.php?item=prealgebra
the pupils in my classes can make big jumps in mathematics level (as verified by various standardized tests they take in their schools of regular enrollment, and by their participation in the AMC mathematics tests) and gains in confidence and delight in solving unfamiliar problems. More schools in the United States could do this, if only they would. The experience of Singapore shows that a rethinking of the entire national education system is desirable for best results,
http://www.merga.net.au/documents/RP182006.pdf
but an immediate implementation of the best…
dredmorbius · 2022-09-12
HTLwS was written as tobacco-lobby propaganda.
<https://www.refsmmat.com/articles/smoking-statistics.html>
sillysaurus2 · 2013-12-21
This one in particular is quite good: http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_06.html
Further study: http://www.refsmmat.com/statistics/
Schroedingersat · 2022-11-27