Fathom-Week 8

Admittedly, this is a bit frustrating. I was almost completely done writing this blog entry when I decided to take a snack break. When I came back, I found that Firefox had shut down and I had to redo this entire entry. That's why this entry is now late.

All in all, Fathom has greatly impressed me. It has impressed me enough that if I one day have to teach a statistics or probability course, I would try to get my hands on it first. The main reason for this is the ability to input large amounts of data simply using drag and drop or open file techniques. This would allow for my students to quickly manipulate large, real sets of data. Because of this, they could make conjectures from day 1 and realize their inaccuracies. This is the manipulation of REAL statistics, rather than "pretty" examples they would get from a textbook. It is through this data manipulation that they can learn the value of true statistics far faster than through text implementation alone.
A second feature I really loved was that various scientific data collectors being implemented into the software. What this means is that in a physics classroom, the students could take their measurements and find them all being recorded statistically. From there, they could find out problems with their experiment by looking at the data (similar to the developers' experiment with the cooling water in a coffee mug). This creates situations where the students realize how interconnected learning truly is. They would learn that statistics can be found first-hand and that physics produces meaningful statistics.
Finally, I was very impressed with the Survey feature that the developers showed off nicely. There are really two main reasons that I enjoy this feature so much: the first is that the students can actively participate in data production and develop their interest in the results. The second is that they can participate in the data production outside of the classroom by logging online and taking part in the survey. What this means is that classroom time doesn't have to be wasted on data production, but the students can use class time to gain insights into the data itself.

I love the potential of this software! Already I know that this is certainly a viable option for any statistics course I might teach in the coming years.