Teaching Stata through Guided Practice

Bowie State University requires a software course in their 3-course research sequence. The course covers descriptive and inferential statistics and some data management using Stata and SPSS syntax. The professor provides a diskette with the datasets and all class syntax files and a course notebook containing: the syllabus; syntax/output files for each weeksÕ material; background notes on hypothesis testing; and in-class practice exercises, homework and a final presentation. Copies are posted on the course website: http://classroom.bowiestate.edu. To login, use the userid eyoung and the password marvin, and click on Data Analysis Main. Go to course documents to find the folders and files associated with the course. The structure of each lesson is as follows: I present a brief summary of the statistical material and corresponding syntax/output files. The students follow on their computers, using the syntax files on their diskettes and the hard copies in their notebooks. Students then practice the material and a mini-homework assignment via the in-class exercise. The following week, each student presents a part of the homework assignment to the rest of the class. For the Stata UsersÕ Group meeting, the student and I would present one mock lesson as well as distribute sample course notebooks.