Testimonials

Randomly chosen testimonials:

Calling on Students Randomly

I want to thank you very much for your random number generator! We teachers are supposed to check for understanding with all of our students. I am sure you are aware of all the stumbling blocks to actually calling on students randomly. I hope that your random number generator, with its ability to generate integers within the range that I specify, will help me to better sample my students for their understanding. More important to the students is the classroom jobs like setting up the technology each day, passing out folders, etc. (I teach 6th Grade in the USA.)

The most important feature of your generator is the ability to set the range/limits!

I tried popsicle sticks in a can but found that method to be ‘uncannily’ unfair! It seemed like I kept getting the same sticks!

I tried writing numbers on index cards, but I can't shuffle cards to save my life! (Besides, when I pick the cards without looking, you know there is bias in that as well … somewhere in my brain.)

I finally purchased some dice from the net that have various numbers of sides. But that didn't work either because the number of students in my class changes throughout the year as the students in our area have a somewhat high transiency rate.

I was at a loss, and the students have been getting upset with me.

In the past I have Googled for something like this, but I guess I never quite put in the correct words to arrive at your site, but I THANK GOD THAT I FOUND YOUR SITE TODAY! And, yes, you may use this testimonial!

—Shannon Clark, Los Angeles, USA

Archeological Sampling

I am using the random sequence generator to take a 15% sample of the archaeological potsherds I am studying. More specifically, I am studying the ceramic vessels and fragments collected, over the course of eight years, from an early Spanish colonial town in Central America. The town was occupied for only a generation, so there was minimal change through time in ceramic style. For each excavation unit and level, I analyze all potsherds that include handles, rims, painted decoration, unusual clay characteristics, and the like. These are my diagnostic sherds. The remainder do not provide enough information to make analyzing and recording each one individually worthwhile, but I don't want to neglect them entirely, as in certain contexts they make up a high percentage of what we have. So, I use your random sequence generator to help me select 15% of this non-diagnostic remainder for study. Thank you for the help.

—Jeb J. Card, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University

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