TO: Folks in 160 – Section 001 – Spring 05

FROM: RB Taylor

DATE: 2/7/05

RE: Connecting the dots: what are we doing in class?

I would like to clarify a bit what I am doing in class with various exercises we have had or will have.

Their purpose is not only to amuse you or pique your interest. Although I hope they do do that. But in addition, their purpose is also to integrate a topic, and/or introduce a topic, in a way that links to several different themes the course.

For example, the exercise you completed a couple of weeks ago where you estimated the number of beers it would take to push your BAC to .08 did several things.

• The results showed you an example of a scatterplot, which is a type of graphical information display I want you to become familiar with in this course.
• The results also illustrated an example of both positive and negative correlations displayed in a scatterplot.
• The results allowed us to test a specific hypothesis: drinking more beers leads to a higher BAC. A trivial hypothesis, perhaps, but a hypothesis none the less.
• The demonstrated variation in the class on the estimated number of beers to push your BAC to .08 underscored and reinforced an important point from the Jacobs’ readings about DUI: DUI is very different from other crimes because it is hard to know exactly when you start breaking the law.

To put the point differently, these exercises integrate tightly with essential class purposes, are designed in a way to allow you to “see” from the ground up what we are doing, and often touch on many themes to which we will return in later lectures and tests.

We have an exercise planned for tomorrow which also is intended to touch on several different points. Hope you can be there.