Talk:UTPA STEM/CBI Courses/Probability and Statistics/Binomial Distribution (Dr. Yanev)

Binomial Review

The author of this lecture has nicely and elaborately covered all aspects of Challenge Based Instruction.

In this review, I will go into each and every aspect and leave some comment.

In Backward Design part, Dr. Yanev has rightly pointed out that the students have to be acquainted with the binomial table for calculation of probabilities. But since the table has its own limitations, the students should also learn to use calculator to calculate them. It is also important for the students to realize that the binomial distribution arises from repeated trial experiment like coin tossing experiment and similar experiments. In sub objectives part, one has to mention that the students should have the idea of factorials and combinations to understand binomial probabilities. The difficulty part has been very nicely. Indeed, the students face difficulty in identifying a problem as a binomial problem. In real world context, one can add some examples like, passing and failing in test, hitting or missing a target, winning or losing a race/bet/draw etc.

In Model of Knowledge part, little bit of elaboration is needed as far as the concept map and concept priorities are concerned.

In the Legacy Cycle part, the General ideas part is to be addressed with care. How do students connect random variables to the challenge question is not clear. Students should already have a background on discrete random variables. Other parts in the legacy cycle have been addresses nicely.

Overall, it is a nice lesson plan by Dr. Yanev.--Schakraborty 16:54, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Article Review

Overall very nice start. I would strength the potential applications of the binomial distribution because there are so many. I work in the quality area and many inspection problems can be modeled by the binomial distribution. From the wiki-page it is hard to determine the connection between the Bernoulli distribution and the binomial distribution. If if you are teaching in a BlackBoard environment, I have test banks of binomial probability questions that could be incorporated into assessments that I would share with you.