Week 8-Fathom

This week, we had a Fathom module to complete. This was another opportunity to see an example of a good module so that we can see what constitutes a good module. The first thing I noticed about this technology was that it is very similar to Tinkerplots, particularly in the statistics aspect. However, one thing I really enjoyed about Fathom compared to Tinkerplots was that Fathom is much easier to use and is very understandable. I found things easy to follow and it didn't take me long to pick up on how to do simple things in Fathom. I also liked how I could input data tables from Excel or a website directly into Fathom. The Fathom interface is very compatible and easy to work with.

I really enjoyed how easy it was to make graphs and shift between graphs. The way you can drag a new graph (or chart or tables for that matter) and easily drag your attributes onto the x and y axis reminded me of Tinkerplots, but for me it seemed a lot easier. I could create multiple graphs of different types with the same data, or I could use different graphs to compare correlations between different attributes. It was also nice to be able to have data with so many different attributes (such as the student census example) and examine various aspects of the data, as opposed to just analyzing two different attributes. Another thing that I really liked about Fathom was how it really helped me explore more about statistics itself. It helped bolster my understanding of mean, median, standard deviation, and outliers. It reinforced my knowledge of how standard deviation and mean are affected by outliers, but medians aren't. This could be very useful in a future classroom, as I could easily allow students to play with their graphs and make conjectures about how outliers affect the various statistical measures. I just thought it was fascinating how Fathom could not only be used to analyze data like Excel can, but how it can also be used to create and further understanding in statistics.

There were some issues I had with Fathom though. Sometimes I wasn't quite sure how to change bin sizes based on the instructions given in the activities. I also had some difficulty changing the "pictures" of the data (particularly in the second activity where we were supposed to put different sized pictures with the different people). I still haven't quite figured that out yet. I could definitely use more time with this program, but as it is nearing Spring Break when I will no longer have internet access, I feel rushed that I have to get this done by the time I leave campus. This is why I am posting this at 2:50 in the morning. I think if this module had fallen on a normal week (not the one before Spring Break) then I would be able to focus more on the subtle aspects of the module and pick up on more of the subtleties and awesome power of Fathom.