Statistics and Probability Final Reflection

Throughout this year, I have learned a lot in Mrs. Lewis’s statistics and probability class.
When I was choosing my classes for my senior year, I wasn’t going to take this class at first. I
was signed up to be in Mr. Mowry’s calc class. I thought I needed calculus for the career I
wanted to go into so I had been planning on taking that class my senior year. However, upon
numerous college visits and discussing what classes I needed to take, I learned the math class I
would be taking in college would be statistics and probability and that it would be helpful to take
this class in high school to have some background knowledge. So I emailed Mr. Hufnagel asking
him to put me in Mrs. Lewis’s stats class and not in calculus. I am so glad I did! I really enjoyed
this class and the content we learned and I feel that I mastered the content pretty well. Mrs.
Lewis is an excellent teacher and I knew that by taking her class the things I learned would carry
into my college years and remember the content. Because of COVID-19, we were not able to
attend school after March 13th and we had to learn the content online instead of face-to-face. I
do not feel that I struggled learning the information virtually because Mrs. Lewis always gave
clear directions, updated information, and would respond ASAP whenever any of us had
questions. I feel that I will be well prepared for my college stats class because of Mrs. Lewis.
A takeaway from this statistics and probability class is that every result is significant and
has meaning. Throughout the year, we would have to explain our results and why they mattered
to the initial problem or equation we were given. This is important because it shows why we got
the answer we did and what it actually represents. Although we usually think of math problems
just having an answer and that’s that, in statistics that is not always the case. This is not only true
in math, but in real life situations. The results you get have meaning and you usually need to
explain them. This class taught me that when you get results, you should always explain how you
got them and their significance to the initial situation.
One of the most valuable things I learned in this class is that statistics and probability are
very important for real world situations and problems. People in the workforce use statistics and
probability everyday. An example are medical workers, they need to know the possible outcomes
of anything they do such as surgeries, medications, treatments, etc. They need to know whether
their efforts will be successful or if they will harm their patients. The material in this class is not
like other math classes where the students ask, “How will knowing the quadratic formula or what
a hypotenuse is help us in the real world?”. This material is important and will be valuable in my
career in the medical field. Some classes you just forget about the material and it will not really
matter when you get older and are graduating from high school and college, but this class is.
Mrs. Lewis repeatedly told us throughout the year that this class and the material we learned in it
is actually important and will aid us in our careers.
Something we discussed in class that will relate to my life or career is the probability of
success/failure and experiments/observations. I will be going into the medical field to become a
nurse practitioner and knowing the success and failure of treatments, surgeries, etc. will be very
important. Also experiments and observations go hand in hand with success and failure because
I’ll need to know the factors that make the experiment successful or not and what can affect the
outcome, such as the placebo effect and lurking variables.
What was different about this class were the chapter projects. I didn’t expect to do a
project for every chapter and have it count as part of my test grade. I really liked it though, it was
something different and it helped me understand the material better because I got more practice.
It was also cool to see all the different topics we covered and how statistics and probability fit
into them.
I see the knowledge and experiences that I learned in this class helping me in my life and
future career. The material we covered in this class will help me in my college stats class and in
my career because I will be using statistics and probability a majority of the time in the medical
field. It is not something I will just forget about because it is important in my career. I feel that I
am very prepared and will be ahead when I take the stats class in college because I understand
and know how to solve the material. Mrs. Lewis didn’t just give us the material and notes and
not explain what everything meant, but took the time to make sure we understood what she was
teaching and if we didn’t she would speak with us individually or have a review day. In addition,
we always had to explain/show our work and how we got the answer and that is very important.
You should always explain and show your work, not just with homework assignments and tests,
but in everyday tasks you do. It is important to explain how you figured something out and what
steps you took to get to the point you are at because it can help others do the same or show if
what you have is correct or not. Every answer has an explanation and that explanation helps
others see how you got your answer. It can also see if you made an error and how you can fix it
and where you made your mistake.