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Statistics & Probability for Real Life:
The Math that Makes You Think

Description

Hippocrates once said about statistics: Declare the Past, Diagnose the Present, Foretell the Future. What a perfect area to investigate in this moment. At a time where so much of what we encounter is questionable in its accuracy and veracity, a good understanding of critical thinking and of the related science and art of statistical analysis is more important than ever. That is what this class is all about. Understanding the world and the avalanche of statistical data that is available to us! In this course, you will learn about the intriguing topics of counting and probability, the very foundation of statistics. With these concepts in hand, you will then tackle the use of Excel to validate and analyse your data while you gain an insight into common statistical distributions in a real world context [Normal, T, Binomial, Poisson, ...]. On the way, you will learn about measures of central tendency and variation, how to use Excel for a variety of basic and more advanced tasks and how to use regression to predict outcomes. We will also discuss critical and analytical thinking and the use of these methods to understand more about social trends.

Target Audience

  • Teens & Young Adults age 14+
  • The pre-requisite to attend this class is basic math proficiency up to and including performing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with variables.
  • If you don't think you satisfy pre-requisites, contact us. We might be able to give you some pre-assignments to get you ready!

Class Objectives

This 9-week interactive workshop will teach you to leverage the power of probability and statistics to critically analyse data in pursuit of a logical conclusion. In this modern world dominated by AI and half truths, the skills taught in this class will allow you to question assertions and make conclusiond based on the facts presented. The following topics will be covered:
  • General introduction to critical thinking and decision making in an AI world: Considerations and Techniques
  • Learn the basics of how to use Excel: Seleting cells, using basic operators, using functions and more.
  • Learn about probability and its applications
  • Understand the basic principles of counting in the context of combinations and permutations
  • Apply basic counting principles to probability determination
  • Make use of Conditional Probability to analyse more complex scenarios
  • Use basic logical operators in analysis: AND, OR, NOT, XOR and more
  • Use DeMorgan's law in a real world context.
  • Assess information sources for their credibility and validity
  • Compile data using Excel to clean and structure the data and perform an analysis
  • Make use of basic statistics such as average, median, mode and standard deviation to understand and interpret the data
  • Master the basics of hypothesis testing
  • Understand the relationship between probability and statistical distributions.
  • Make use of the normal distribution and z-scores to analyze real world data
  • Make use of the t-distribution and z-scores to analyze real world data
  • Make use of the binomial distribution for true-false scenarios
  • Make use of the Poisson distribution for scenarions involving total occurrences

Pricing

  • Individual: free upon acceptance
  • Learn Grow Fly learning is a not-for-profit initaitive. If your student wants to participate in this program and the cost is an issue for your family, please contact us. We want to help.
  • This class requires students to do short homework assignments on a regular basis

Class Times

  • Classes start on Monday October 20, 2025 and end on Wednesday December 17, 2025
  • Class Hours
    1. Mondays from 11:30 to 12:30 - In-Person
    2. Wednesdays from 16:30 to 17:30 - Zoom
  • Additional sessions will be organized if necessary or if studens show an interest in a particular topic.

Class Location

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Greenboro Community Center
363 Lorry Greenberg Drive, Bondar Room, Ottawa, Ontario
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The Details

Part I: Counting and Probability
Critical Thinking and Excel
  • What is Critical Thinking
  • Seeing Beyond the Obvious
  • The Decision Making Process
  • Seeing Beyond AI
  • MS Excel: Workbooks and Cells
  • Laying Out Data in Excel
  • Using Formulas in Excel
  • Working with Data in Excel
Counting and Probability
  • How to Count: Ordered and Not
  • How to Count when Order Matters
  • How to Count when Order Does not Matters
  • What is Probability and Why does it Matter?
  • Calculating Probability using Counting
  • What about Conditional Probability?
  • The Wonderful World of Logical Operators
  • DeMorgan's Law and Other Important Realities
Part II: Statistics and Distributions
Analysis and Understanding
  • Assess Information Sources for Credibility
  • Preparing and Cleaning Data with Excel
  • Exploring Basic Statistics: Average, Median, Mode
  • Understanding Variability: Standard Deviation
  • Using Excel for Basic Statistics
  • Essential Steps in Data Analysis
  • Creating Graphs to Understand your Data
  • A Case Study: Understanding through Data Analysis
What is the Hypothesis?
  • What is a Distribution? How is Probability Involved?
  • What is Hypothesis Testing?
  • The Normal Distribution and z-Scores: Everything is Normal
  • The t-Distribution and t-Scores
  • The Binomial Distribution: Is it True or is ot False?
  • The Poisson Distribution: How Many are There
  • Linear Regression is so Cool
  • Let's Make more Graphs!