I asked the students a variety of questions on the survey - but I've only highlighted the "interesting" questions.
Why did you sign up for this course?
- Looked like a fun and informative course to fill a distribution requirement (9 people)
- Heard it was a fun class (1 person)
- Love games (1 person)
- For distribution (without any mention of fun/interesting) (3 people)
- Variety in math classes (3 people)
Note: The first question was a short answer so I categorized the answers as best I could.
If you had to, which ONE of the following games would you play (with the goal to make money at a casino):
- Craps: 1
- Roulette: 3
- Blackjack: 11
- Slot Machines: 2
- Keno: 0
The first question was designed to figure out my audience. The second was designed to figure out what preconceived notions the students had in regards to gambling. I also had a series of true/false and a few ranking questions on the survey (interesting to me but probably not great blogging fodder).
What information can I glean from the two selected questions? Looking at question #1, it seems clear that the majority of the students signed up because the class sounded like a fun way to earn their mathematics distribution credit. While some mathematicians may cringe at that idea, I think it's awesome. It's not easy to have a non-majors mathematics class that the students are excited about before they even step foot in the classroom.
The second question was interesting to me because the majority of the class decided that Blackjack was the way to go if the goal was making money. It's clear to me that movies like 21 (plus the glamorized depictions of casinos in movies like Ocean's 11 have an effect on people). It was also interesting that no one chose Keno (a wise move by the way) despite the fact that Keno is also available at a lot of non-casino locations (including the Maryland state lottery).
I should mention (for those that are curious) that there isn't exactly a "correct" answer to the second question. Keno is clearly wrong in terms of things like expected value - but if you only have $1 to bet, you have a slim chance at winning say $10,000 in Keno - unlike any other game in the list! I didn't ask for any sort of written explanation from the students so I don't have any idea why each student chose the game they did. The real value (for me) will be the follow-up survey at the end of the semester where I'll put the same question with a spot for a written explanation. We'll see what they glean from the semester's worth of material!
