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Graduate Statistics in the Philippines

Written on August 1, 2012 by Kevin in Teaching Methods

The future of statistics looks bright. With data being created at an accelerated rate, data scientists will be needed to sort and interpret the huge volumes of data. There will be opportunities for data scientists in the near future that make it worth it to invest in statistical training. Google said that there will be many opportunities for statistically trained scientists in the near future.

I am still interested in learning new applied mathematics, especially statistics and R programming. These tools were not available to me when I was an undergrad at Rutgers University. I’ve been learning as much as I can in statistics and R, ever since I discovered R

One opportunity new to the statistics is the idea of big data. Online companies and the internet and social media like Facebook and Twitter are generating huge amounts of data. Dealing with this big data takes training in both computer science, statistics and marketing.

A good course of study would be a mathematics or statistics degree with classes in computer science and business.

I’ve been looking for some graduate classes to continue my interest in statistics and for professional development and the cost is very high. There are online classes at Udemy , Udacity and Coursea, but, as of now, they do not offer graduate credit. These online classes are interesting in that they are taught by some of the best professors in the world. I have found some graduate programs in the US, but the least expensive graduate classes are about $200.00 per credit.

This got me searching for tuition prices in the Philippines. The Philippines has some good graduate statistics programs at a very reasonable rate. The problem is, you have to move there and take the classes there as they don’t have online classes in statistics yet. The cost at Benguet State University is about $1500.00 per year, which is very affordable.

I found this document, The Academic Programs in Statistics in the Philippines by Lisa Grace S. Bersales, Ph.D., that lists all the statistics programs in the Philippines. I have contacted someone in that program and found that the applied statistics program uses SAS, excel and some R.

If and when we live in the Philippines, I just might enroll in the graduate applied statistics program.

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The number 77

Written on July 25, 2012 by Kevin in Mathematics

This summer I’ve had some time to reflect on everything. But it’s the small stuff that keeps my brain going. Interesting facts like the sum of the first eight prime numbers is 77 keeps me thinking and calculating.

I’m always looking for numbers that relate to 77. My wife was born in 1977. I usually check page 77 of books that I’m reading to see if there is anything significant. Last week when I was driving on the highway on the the way to Georgia, it was 77 degrees just when I had driven 77 miles.

Am I the only one who does stuff like this?

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Saint Ubaldo Day Festival

Written on May 27, 2012 by Kevin in General, Pennsylvania

We went to Jessup for the Ubaldo Day Fiesta today. I had hear about the race but we never went until this year. We got there an hour early and walked around the town. We enjoyed some good Italian food and ice cream. I took both of my cameras and took pictures and video.

This race is unique as it only takes place in two places in the world: Gubbio, Italy and Jessup, PA. Here is some more information about the local tradition and the link between Jessup, PA and Gubbio, Italy.

See the video below for the highlights of our day in Jessup Pennsylvania.

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My daughter’s first Scratch program

Written on April 11, 2012 by Kevin in Bisaya, Stat/Programming

Last week, we downloaded and started working with Scratch, a computer program language for young kids.

Here is her first program in Scratch about learning Bisaya. Use the space bar to start.

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Learning Python

Written on April 8, 2012 by Kevin in Stat/Programming

As I was reading and gathering information about the R programming language, I discovered Python. Python was something I was looking for in the past- easy to learn, powerful and related to math and science. R seems better for statistics and python is touted as easier to learn than other languages.

Learning Python and R

Long story short, I’m learning python to program and using R for statistics. I intend to use R for when I take a graduate statistics class soon. As a science teacher, I am enjoying my walk back on Math Street. As for R, I can now run many test using the R code and I am teaching myself to write a function using statistics.

python

So I figured the best way for me to learn Python was to take a class somewhere, preferable online. I found an online python class that was just what I was looking for. The Python class is at Udemy and is taught by Zed Shaw. The price was $29.00. I feel it’s worth the price as he is an expert programmer and I need some structure when I’m learning. The class consist of reading lessons in his PDF ebook and watching videos. There is also a place to ask questions and get feedback on the site.

My first Python program

I’ve completed the first week’s lessons which includes getting Python up and running, working with the terminal and terminal commands and writing my first program. For this class I’m going to use both WingIDE and the Mac terminal for Python programming. As I go along, I’ll work more with the terminal.

I hope to learn a great deal in this Python class so I can continue my studies in statistics, R and programming.

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A Return to Math Street

Written on March 23, 2012 by Kevin in Mathematics

The last few months I was tutoring a student in statistics. The class was something I know about but some of the topics were a little rusty. Towards the end of their class, I found myself reading through my old stats book and also doing some additional reading on the internet on Chi-square, ANOVA and hypothesis testing.

This brought back memories of taking my stat classes in college years ago when there was no internet to turn to. I remember going to the college library to read some additional books for some background knowledge.

But now it’s different.

I’ve read so much statistics from the net that I have an even deeper understanding now. I also ordered some statistics books from my favorite book swap store at Paper Back Swap. I’ve been bitten by the statistics bug and I want to know more.

But that’s not the only surprise. While looking for a statistical program to help crunch the numbers, I came across R.

I was amazed.

R is free and it works on my Mac. R is an open source statistical package that is free to use. It also has many niche packages that work with the statistics of science. When I was in college, I had to rent some stat program that wasn’t even that good. So when I saw what R could do, I downloaded it right away to my computer and tried it out. I also use RStudio because of it’s nice interface and to help me with R’s learning curve.

I am finished with tutoring now and my weekends are open. But it’s different now, I’m back on math street but I’m getting on the highway soon.

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Home for Christmas

Written on December 11, 2011 by Kevin in Philippines

Jaycee and the kids are now home from their trip to the Philippines. She was there for two months visiting the family. They are now adjusting to the time difference.

They were all up last night at 2 am, running around the house, playing with their toys and making lots of noise. I tried keeping them up during the day but they fell asleep before lunch.

Last week I moved all my science projects out of the living room and back to my lab at school. The solar panel is complete, just need to calk the clear panel to the top.

Now it’s time to get ready for Christmas and get everything back to normal.

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Don’t Forget It! Use The Peg System

Written on November 14, 2011 by Kevin in Peg System, Teaching Methods

Using the Major System has its limitations when remembering content. This is where the Peg System comes in.

The Peg System ties everything together and make it easy to remember all kinds of things. I usually call both these systems just the Peg System. Once you get the basics down, it’s not that hard to use and it makes it much easier to remember content, especially numbers and dates.

Watch the video below and see how I use the Peg System to remember a small list of items. You can review the Major System in my previous post here.

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Here’s a Quick Way To Remember Einstein’s Birth Year

Written on November 13, 2011 by Kevin in Peg System, Teaching Methods

I use the Major system to remember dates of different scientists in class. Once you know the Major system, it’s easy to remember because the picture sticks in your head and it is also easy to translate.

Here are the basics of the Major system and how to learn it.

Remember, when translating, it always goes by how it sounds and not the spelling.

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Do You Know How To Teach The Major System?

Written on October 30, 2011 by Kevin in Teaching Methods

I teach this system in the beginning of the year. It only takes a few minutes each day for a few days. Once they get the system down, we move on to the peg system. It is now possible to learn and remember many things. As we add to our background knowledge, we can make connections and synthesize information.

Here is my first post on using the Major System.

Synthesizing is creating something new using different sources.

When learning different dates and small packets of information, the students can make connections. For example, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison were born in the same year, 1847. One of my students asked me if they ever met each other and I said that’s a good question. I encouraged the student to find the answer and do a report.

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