This example gets students thinking about how we operationalize variables. Psychologists operationalize a lot of abstract stuff. Intelligence. Grit. But what about something that seems more firmly grounded and countable, like whether or not a crime meets the criteria for a a mass shooting? How do we define mass shooting? As shared in this article by Chris Wilson for Time Magazine , the official definition is 1) three or more people 2) killed in a public setting. That is per the current federal definition of a mass shooting . But that isn't universally excepted by media outlets. The article shares different metrics used for identifying a mass shooting, depending on what source is being used. Whether or not to include a dead shooter towards the total number killed. Whether or not the victims were randomly selected. I think the most glaring example from the article has to do with the difference that this definition makes on mass shooting counts: You could also discuss wi...

So, I love me some good statsy memes. They make a brief, important point that sticks in the heads of students. I've recently learned of the Logical Fallacy Ref meme. Here are a couple that apply to stats class:

So, this checks off a couple of my favorite requisites for a good teaching example: You can personalize it, it is contemporary and applicable, it illustrates a few different sorts of statistics.  Climate Central wrote this article about first frost dates, and how those dates, and an increasing number of frost-free days, create longer growing seasons.  The overall article is about how frosty the US is becoming as the Earth warms. They provide data about the first frost in a number of US cities. It even lists my childhood hometown of Altoona, PA, so I think there is a pretty large selection of cities to choose from. Below, I've included the screen grab for my current home, and the home of Gannon University, Erie, PA. The first frost date is illustrated with a line chart, but the chart also includes the regression line. Data for frosty, chilly Erie, PA The article also presents a chart that shows how frost is related to the length of the growing season in t...