Bridging statistics and life sciences education for immunologists: Exploring a significantly impactful collaboration

Abstract

Abstract Statistical tests and graphs are an important part of any immunological research publication or presentation. However, not all immunologists have the statistical expertise to choose the best methods to evaluate and represent their experiments, and the formal statistics training required by undergraduate immunology curricula is often quite limited. How can we prepare future immunologists for statistical practice in research? As a collaborative effort between the Department of Statistical Sciences and the Human Biology Program at the University of Toronto, a second-year undergraduate course was developed to integrate statistics instruction with research design to improve the quantitative training of life sciences students. In a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) study conducted within the course, student attitudes and self-efficacies for statistics, as well as their abilities to recognize and handle problems related to statistical practice in life sciences research, were assessed through surveys administered at the beginning and end of the course (n=126). Here, we present our team-teaching model and strategies for promoting meaningful connections between statistics and life sciences research through course design, activities and assessments. We also highlight results from our SoTL study, which revealed that 77% of students felt more confident about choosing the correct statistical procedure, while 74% indicated that the course helped increase their confidence with respect to results interpretation. We hope that insights from this teaching partnership and our SoTL findings will help inform future course offerings to better prepare our students to effectively engage with statistics in immunological research.