Technology
Graphing calculators are the usual technology for AP Statistics because
most schools already have them and most teachers and students are
familiar with them, and because they are required for the exam.
Check to make sure your students will have access to graphing
calculators, preferably at home as well as in school. If you do
not already know, find out what kind of graphing calculators are
available to your students. The usual choice for AP Statistics is
some member of the Texas Instruments TI-83/84 family. The
TI-89 may be an even better choice, but you will need to download
the (free) Statistics
with List Editor application from TI's website. (A similar
application is available for the TI-86
as well.) Early model calculators may need an operating system upgrade
before installing these applications.
Graphing calculators are not well suited to larger,
realistic datasets, they are not adequate for more advanced statistics
courses a student might take in college, and the processing speed and
screen resolution puts limits on their use for interactive
graphics. Hence you may eventually want to acquire computer
software to support your course. There are two main categories of
software -- number crunching tools such as are used in real-life
statistical work (Minitab, Data Desk, JMP, etc.) and educational
software for
teaching statistics (Fathom, ActivStats, etc.) No software is required so you need not
rush to make a choice here. One option for your first year is to
use whatever software you can get bundled with your textbook.
Another is to get one copy for yourself and learn it and use it to make
handouts for your students. (The exam usually does include at
least one item where software output is provided and students need to
interpret it.) More?