Risk—A Motivating Theme for an Introductory Statistics Course

Abstract This article describes an idea for motivating students in an introductory probability and statistics course. The motivating theme is risk, and the process begins with a first-day-of-class questionnaire that samples attitudes of students toward risk and involves them in analysis of events and decisions from their daily lives. Questionnaire responses serve as a context for the instructor to develop the technical concepts of probability and statistics. Moreover, the questionnaire provides a way to increase substantially student motivation and involvement in the course.