The Three Stooges and Statistics
Three Stooges log

Robert "Puddin' Head" Davidson and Robert "Moe-Bob" Gardner are working on a project to use the films of the Three Stooges as a source of data for use in the introductory statistics class (at ETSU, this is Introduction to Probability and Statistics, MATH 1530). This webpage includes links to several online resources related to this project.

Davidson and Gardner implemented these Stooge ideas in Probability and Statistics during Spring 2009 at ETSU!!! Robert Davidson and Bob Gardner cotaught Introduction to Probability and Statistics (MATH 1530-017) at ETSU during the 2009 spring semester. The class involved the usual material, but each statistical topic was illustrated with an example involving Three Stooges data. For more details, see the class syllabus.

PRESENTATIONS
The first part of the project involves hypothesis testing. The following resources by Davidson and Gardner (and more recently Steve Brown) involve this component:
  1. On January 28, 2008, an ETSU Math Department Seminar was given by Davidson and Gardner. This seminar was the first public presentation of the ideas from this project. An advertisement for the seminar is available as a webpage. The PowerPoint component of the presentation is available online.
  2. On February 15, 2008, Davidson and Gardner presented "Using the Three Stooges as a Data-Source for Motivation of Statistics Students" at the 15th Georgia Conference On College & University Teaching at Kennesaw State University. The online version contains all of the information presented at the conference, except for the several minutes of Stooges shorts which are referenced. The PowerPoint component of the presentation is available online.
  3. "Using the Three Stooges as a Data-Source for Motivation of Statistics Students" was presented again at the Upper East Tennessee Council of Teachers of Mathematics Final 2007-08 Meeting, April 2008 at ETSU. The PowerPoint component of the presentation is available online.
  4. "Using the Three Stooges as a Data-Source for Motivation of Statistics Students" was presented again at The Tennessee Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges at Northeast State Community College in April 2008. The PowerPoint component of the presentation is online.
  5. Davidson and Gardner gave the 2008 College of Arts and Sciences Jewell Friend Lecture on August 21. The PowerPoint presentation used in the lecture is available online.
  6. An updated version of the usual presentation was given on September 29, 2008 in the ETSU Department of Physics and Astronomy Seminar. The PowerPoint component of the presentation is available online.
  7. Dr. Stephen E. Brown of the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Western Carolina University, gave a presentation "Teaching Statistics in Criminology & Criminal Justice: Popular Culture Pedagogy" at the Southern Criminal Justice Association meeting in New Orleans, LA on October 2, 2008. The abstract is available online.
  8. Dr. Stephen E. Brown and Robert Davidson gave a presentation "Teaching Statistics to Social Science Students: Stats From the Three Stooges" at the American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting in St. Louis, MO on November 12, 2008.
  9. "A Data Gathering Demo Using Three Stooges Films" was presented by Davidson and Gardner at the Joint A.M.S./M.A.A. Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday January 6, 2009. The abstract is number 1046-Z1-484 and is available online.
  10. "A Research Problem Involving Films of the Three Stooges" was presented by Davidson and Gardner at Western Carolina University on January 27, 2009. The presentation was given in two sections of 'Research Methods and Writings' (CJ 300). This is part of an ongoing research project exploring the effectiveness of the technique of using Stooges-related data in the classroom. The research is joint work of Davidson and Gardner of ETSU's Math Department, and Steve Brown and Lisa Briggs of Western Carolina's Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice. The PowerPoint component of the presentation is available online.

DOCUMENTS USED IN THE PRESENTATIONS
The following include supplemental documents used in the presentation.
  1. The is available online.
  2. The data sheet on which students can record the relevant data is available as a online.
  3. The questionnaire used to evaluate the Davidson-Gardner in-class presentation is available online. This questionaire is modeled after the ETSU "Student Assessment of Instruction" (SAI).

ARTICLES
We will publish the results of this project as it develops. So far, we have the following.
  1. An article at the popular level (devoid of equations) entitled Adding it Up: Three Stooges in the College Classroom has appeared in The Three Stooges Journal, published by the Three Stooges Fan Club. The reference for the article is The Three Stooges Journal, volume 127, Fall 2008, pages 6-7. Information on this issue of The Three Stooges Journal is available online.
  2. An article describing this project titled "Hypothesis Testing Using the Films of The Three Stooges" appeared in the journal Teaching Statistics, Volume 32, Number 2, 49-53.
  3. A paper devoted to the technique of evaluating student opinions towards statistics classes and titled "D.RA.MA: An Extended Conceptualization of Student Anxiety in Criminal Justice Research Methods Courses" appeared in Journal of Criminal Justice Education , Volume 20, Number 3, 2009, 217-226. The paper is coauthored by Lisa Briggs and Steve Brown (both of the University of Western Carolina Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice), and Robert Gardner and Robert Davidson (both of the East Tennessee State University Department of Mathematics and Statistics). This technique will be used to further study the impact of the use of the Three Stooges (and popular culture in general) in statistics and research methods classes.

RELATED RESOURCES
The following are related resources by others (each accessed 3/28/2024):

Return to Bob Gardner's webpage.

Last revised March 28, 2024.