在学生事务部门工作了五年之后，他适应了 山姆水域 满足大学一、二年级学生的需求. 现在他正在探索早期大学 学生的统计素养是他的一部分 北科罗拉多大学's Mathematics 教育 Ph.D. 程序 论文.

Statistical literacy — the ability to 读 and interpret numeric information as presented in tables, graphs, and text — is key to comprehension. 沃特斯的研究将有所帮助 gauge how well students in 统计学入门课程 understand what they're 在典型的课堂应用之外学习. 他相信让他们参与 media-based contexts will illustrate their comprehension level.

"...this research is very much getting at that idea about how we can make sure that students leaving these courses have the skills to be engaged and informed critical 博天堂官方网站消费者."

——山姆·沃特斯

It was important to him that the average person could find relevance in his work. When people become more aware of how political and commercial agendas could shape messages, they can better judge their accuracy and trustworthiness. 沃特斯说过 is part of creating an informed, engaged public citizenry, vital to a healthy democracy.

"The message isn't that you can't trust anything and that everybody is trying to manipulate us. But this research is very much getting at that idea about how we can make sure that students leaving these courses have the skills to be engaged and informed critical 博天堂官方网站消费者，”他说.

The project is a mixed methods study utilizing both qualitative and quantitative data 收集和分析. One step involves students 读ing a headline and a short article that includes statistical information and answering questions about what they 读. Waters' coursework is in mathematics and mathematics education, so his statistics-focused 论文 required exploring the related field of statistics education to learn 博天堂官方网站这个领域的重大问题和问题.

"My coursework built baseline skills on research methods, design and developing a conceptual framework for dealing with different theories of learning. 它帮助了我 have a sense about how to approach a problem and gave me the skills to dive into the field of statistics education and develop my own project," Waters said.

When crafting his research proposal, Waters realized he wasn't happy with his initial 数据收集和分析计划. 他转向 林赛·雷滕博士.D.，副教授 自然与健康科学学院' 数学科学系.

"She helped me unpack why my plan wasn't getting me to the place that I wanted in 就能回答我的问题而言. 最终进行了一次重大的改革 to that portion of the study that she was able to help me work through," Waters recalled.

雷滕说，沃特斯很有动力，很敬业.

“Sam is a committed student and instructor in our 程序; he seeks a depth of knowledge 并且愿意解决增长领域的问题. 例如，提高他的知识 teaching with technology, he worked with me during a summer project to develop an undergraduate teacher preparation course focused on teaching mathematics with technology," 击剑说.

Reiten believes Waters' research is particularly useful for college or high school 统计学入门课程.

"His research has the potential to give insight for how we might better prepare students to critically engage in or examine the plethora of data that is all around them, particularly the ways in which data is often used to mislead students or to tell a story. 它有 the potential, both in task design as well as in instruction, to better prepare students," 她说.

When he graduates in May 2025, Waters plans to apply for faculty positions in a math 部门.

"I'm hoping to continue to teach undergraduate math courses. 我被吸引向 first- and second-year college student population who are getting started in their degree 程序s or folks who are taking math and statistics courses as part of a liberal 艺术课程. I anticipate continuing to expand on this research, and I also would really love to be able to have some sort of role or responsibility that ties into 我在学生事务方面的背景。.