First day back in the classroom, teaching genetics, and I speculate for a bit about why so many people find the subject difficult. I’ve had smart students who struggled with the concepts. I think the answer is that many people don’t get the whole idea of chance and probability and the statistical nature of inheritance.
The autofocus on my camera was a bit goofy. Someday I’ll get this all figured out.
“The autofocus on my camera was a bit goofy. Someday I’ll get this all figured out.”
Well, you do have a partner.*
That’s the point; sometimes assistant, sometimes assisted.
Mutual thingies like that.
—
* Mary Mary (not Contrary, of course)
I remember back when I was in grad school working on a MSEE. There were only two required courses. One was on random variables and noise. That stuff turns up everywhere it seems.
Ooo, you might be interested in two citations.
Andrew Gelman and Deborah Nolan, “You Can Load a Die, But You Can’t Bias a Coin,” The American Statistician 56, no. 4 (2002): 308–11, https://doi.org/10.1198/000313002605
Gelman and Nolan describe a class activity where they ask students to create a biased die and coin. The students have no problem with the former, but none have yet to pull off the latter. That pairs well with:
Matthew P. A. Clark and Brian D. Westerberg, “How Random Is the Toss of a Coin?,” Holiday Review, CMAJ 181, no. 12 (2009): E306–8, https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.091733
A prof asked 13 residents to induce bias towards heads in a coin toss, via how they flipped it. All of them were successful, with half achieving statistical significance.
I had no problem with the variable focus because I am old and variable focus is a part of life.
I was a wise talk.
I know that many people don’t have any understanding of how statistics work, much less probability. It is annoyingly common for me to hear people say they support things 1000%, or some other nonsensical percentage.
I think many people find the idea that chance and randomness are part of evolution and human genetics disquieting.