Discussion Questions: Procedures and Rules
How to prepare for, participate in, and receive credit for Tuesday discussion sessions
1. The Discussion Section
STAT 432 meets for discussion on Tuesdays through November 17. A regular discussion session lasts about 50 to 60 minutes and focuses on the topic taught on the previous Thursday. On quiz Tuesdays, the 30-minute quiz takes place first. A short lecture may follow the discussion if time permits.
The purpose of discussion is active explanation. You will work with classmates to understand selected questions, compare reasoning, and explain conclusions rather than simply watch someone present a solution.
The course uses Popping to organize selected questions, Group Discussion, Present and Challenge, and participation ratings. Login instructions and detailed participation policies are available on the Discussion page.
2. What You Need to Prepare
- Submit one discussion question. Commit and push
discussion/week-NN-question.mdto yourstat432-fall2026GitHub repository by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Central Time before the upcoming Tuesday discussion. Use the week number of the lecture topic. If the GitHub file-version timestamp is after the deadline, the submission receives 0 points. No late-submission exceptions are allowed. - Use the course skill if helpful. You may use
stat432-fall2026-studentto check the filename, metadata, 200-word limit, Markdown, LaTeX, and code-block format. These checks can also be completed manually. The skill checks technical format only, so you must still review and proofread the question yourself. - Review the published question pool if useful. After the deadline, the instructor selects 12 questions from the submissions to form the weekly pool. You may review the published questions before class, but this preparation is optional.
- Attend the Tuesday session. Be ready to work with a group and explain your reasoning. Bring a computer if you plan to use notes, code, web resources, or AI tools during Group Discussion.
Begin every discussion-question file with these five lines:
---
id: wNN-netid-short-topic
title: "Question title"
author: netid
---Replace netid with your Illinois NetID. Do not substitute your UIN, Canvas numeric ID, email address, or GitHub username. Your real or full name is not required. If you want an optional display name or GitHub handle, keep it on the same line as author: "Display name or GitHub handle (netid)".
3. During the Discussion Section
Four to eight questions from the weekly pool will be posted during the session. The session has three phases.
- Form groups. Groups are formed at the beginning of the session. Depending on the activity, groups may be assigned randomly or formed voluntarily.
- Group Discussion. Work through the posted questions and develop explanations with your group. You may use any available tools during this phase, including notes, computers, code, web resources, and AI tools. Make sure you understand the reasoning and are prepared to present if your group is selected.
- Present and Challenge. The instructor randomly assigns presenting teams to questions. During each turn, the assigned team presents without notes, computers, AI tools, or assistance from anyone else. Students from other teams may volunteer to challenge the answer by raising an important question, identifying a limitation, or proposing a different argument. The instructor selects challengers, and the class rates the presenting team and each selected challenger.
Tools are allowed during Group Discussion. Presenting team members may not use them during their turn in Present and Challenge.
4. Grading
The classroom discussion component makes up 25% of the course grade and is based on participation, not on whether every answer is correct.
Weekly GitHub question submission is graded separately.
To receive full participation credit for a session:
- give a thumbs-up to at least one teammate who contributed during Group Discussion; you are encouraged to recognize every teammate who contributed;
- rate every presenting team and every challenger during Present and Challenge; and
- complete these actions before the session closes.
One discussion absence is allowed without penalty. If an in-class network or technical problem prevents a required action, tell the instructor during class and participation credit will be given in full. Individual ratings remain private, although aggregate results may be shared.
The highest-rated presenting team or teams and the highest-rated challenger or challengers receive bonus points. The exact bonus-point calculation will be announced separately.
5. Quizzes
There are four 30-minute, closed-book quizzes. Each quiz takes place on Tuesday before the discussion session and contains short-answer or multiple-choice questions.
- Quiz 1 has 8 questions. Six come exactly from questions covered in the Week 1 and Week 2 discussions. Two come from other student-submitted questions and may be slightly modified.
- Quizzes 2 through 4 each have 12 questions. Nine come exactly from questions covered in the three previous discussion sessions. Three come from other student-submitted questions and may be slightly modified.
The discussion blocks covered are Weeks 1 and 2 for Quiz 1, Weeks 3 through 5 for Quiz 2, Weeks 6 through 8 for Quiz 3, and Weeks 9 through 11 for Quiz 4. See the Quizzes page for dates and the complete quiz policy.