The thing about my way of teaching stats is that my cool, novel examples get old really fast. Like, pop culture is on a thirty-day cycle. Anyway, YEARS ago, 2014 to be exact, I blogged about illustrating bimodal data distributions using baby name data from the Social Security Administration. Specifically, when an older name comes back into vogue, it has a bimodal distribution when you plot time on the X axis. I stand by this example. However, all of the data illustrations come from 2014. When our traditionally aged college students were 6 or 7. Which makes this example feel a little stale. However, here is some data, courtesy of Redditor fevaah , showing old names that are back in vogue through 2025 ! And Eleanor, Violet, Nora, and Hazel are here, illustrating bimodal distributions for a new generation. If you used my old baby-name data, this is a quick, easy refresh for your lectures (or a fun new addition if you didn't). If this idea was help...
It shouldn't come as a shock that the CDC shares data on rates of public health issues in the US. However, you may be unaware of the available data and interactive visualizations provided by the CDC and the different ways you can use them in class . 1. Teach your students a lesson about good sources for mental health data. 2. Show your students how data visualizations can help present and simplify complex data. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health.htm 3. Get into the research methods. Everyone has heard of the census, but fewer have heard of the Household Pulse Survey (https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/household-pulse-survey.html). The US Census collects much information between the 10-year census, including mental health data. https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/household-pulse-survey.html 4. Talk about how the government assesses depression and anxiety. For example, you can show how the basic methodology uses a valid, relia...