Use spicy, spicy peppers to explain scales of measurement and/or the difference between categorical and continuous data.

https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/scoville-scale-chili-pepper-tasting-kit#618780000000

This spicy example explains scales of measurement, continuous vs. categorical variables, and how you can measure and quantify anything.

Uncommon Goods sells quirky gifts. While I was looking for Christmas gifts last year, I came across this kit

https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/scoville-scale-chili-pepper-tasting-kit#618780000000

I have a teenage son, and teen boys love this sort of stuff. Actually, I think spicy peppers are enjoying increased popularity due to the Hot Ones show (The show where celebrities eat increasingly hot chicken wings while being interviewed, like Jennifer Lawrence and her famous GIF from the show).

Maybe you could link this example back to that show? Welcome to how my brain works. Anyway, among the information Uncommon Goods shared about this kit was an image of the packaging for the kit, detailing the Scoville scale rating for each pepper:

And my stats teacher brain translated this packaging into this, since the same data (hottness) is presented in two different ways:

My fellow teachers, please update your favorite examples of basic statistical concepts, like scales of measurement. This can also be a good example for a start-of-class review in which you ask your students to classify the Heat/Pepper/SHU data types.

Comments

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If your students get the joke, they get statistics.

Gleaned from multiple sources (FB, Pinterest, Twitter, none of these belong to me, etc.). Remember, if your students can explain why a stats funny is funny, they are demonstrating statistical knowledge. I like to ask students to explain the humor in such examples for extra credit points (see below for an example from my FA14 final exam). Using xkcd.com for bonus points/assessing if students understand that correlation =/= causation What are the numerical thresholds for probability? How does this refer to alpha? What type of error is being described, Type I or Type II? What measure of central tendency is being described? Dilbert: http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Kill%20Anyone Sampling, CLT http://foulmouthedbaker.com/2013/10/03/graphs-belong-on-cakes/ Because control vs. sample, standard deviations, normal curves. Also,"skewed" pun. If you go to the original website , the story behind this cakes has to do w...

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