Dr. Mark Gardener

Lecturer: Ecology, Environment and Biometrics

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Great Torrington,
Devon,
United Kingdom.

Go to My Research Page.

Go to Mark's Open University Students Page

Go to the Open University Science Pages.

Go to the Birmingham University Bioscience pages.

Go to the Field Studies Council pages.

Welcome:

This is my homepage. I am an Ecologist and currently teach as an Associate Lecturer for the Open University. Currently I teach environmental science and environment but used to tutor ecology before the course was withdrawn. See my OU students page for more background on me and for information relating to the courses I tutor on (S216, U316).

Much of my teaching involves distance learning but I also teach ecology (and environmental science) in the field at residential centres run by the Field Studies Council. As part of these activities I necessarily find myself teaching statistics (I am also the statistics consultant for the MSc course in Biological Recording from Birmingham University).

Over the years I have developed a number of tools to help with the teaching of statistics and the analysis of data. I'm not a programmer but am pretty handy with a spreadsheet and have created a number of packages. These are especially useful for A-Level biology and geography students as well as university undergraduates and those undertaking projects. My Don't Panic Statistics program is designed to help teach and learn statistics (as well as being handy for your project).

I am in the process of adding some of my lectures to this site (see the Lectures Home page for details) and also have a separate page to help decide which statistics test is right for your data.

My Research:

My academic research has been in the area of plant-animal interactions, most notably in the area of pollination biology. My PhD was concerned with the chemistry of nectar; how it varied between plants and how animals reacted to the differing compositions. I have worked in many different habitats including: alpine meadow, desert scrub and tropical forest. Currently I am working on a plant population study in water meadows in the UK. See My Research page for more details.

A butterfly pollinates a plant.

The Field Studies Council promotes "environmental understanding for all" at it's Field Centres.

Students at Nettlecombe, Field Centre, Somerset.

Ecology and Environmental Science in the Field:

There's nothing like doing practical science to aid your understanding of it. The Open University has been running residential schools in collaboration with the FSC for over 20 years. I have been involved for a bit less than that but have still seen hundreds of students peering into quadrats and trays of freshwater invertebrates.

Don't Panic Statistics is a tool for teaching and carrying out statistics. Unlike major commercial packages Don't Panic teaches the routines as you undertake them - and for a fraction of the price.

One-off routines for specific tests (e.g. U-test, Spearman Rank) are available at a special rate - ideal for your project.

Learn Statistics - Don't Panic:

If you are learning biology, ecology, geography or environmental science then sooner or later you will have to deal with a load of numbers: in short, statistics. I began writing spreadsheets to help myself learn statistics when I was an undergraduate. More recently these routines have been used by undergraduates and A-Level students doing field work. I am not really a programmer but am pretty handy with a spreadsheet. I have produced routines that undertake a variety of statistics including: t-test, z-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Spearman Rank Correlation, Wilcoxon matched pairs, Chi-squared, Kruskal Wallis, ANOVA.

I am in the process of "going commercial". The final product will be a set of computer files; spreadsheets will carry out stats tests and provide some help on which is the correct test to use and the right sort of input data. Other spreadsheets will provide a step-by-step guide of some of the more common statistics. You will be able to put in data and run through the calculation steps one bit at a time - useful for classroom teaching via a computer projector. A document file will provide all the background material required to take students from no understanding at all to a working knowledge of all the statistical procedures covered.

I call the package Don't Panic Statistics. At the moment the routines work on Microsoft Excel (PC or Macintosh) but a previous version also works on Open Office. Eventually the package will run on any operating system.

So, if you are a student or an educator and are interested then for more details.

Student's T-test
Z-test
Mann-Whitney U-test
Spearman Rank
Chi Squared
Linear Regression
ANOVA
Kruskal Wallis
Wilcoxon
and more...

The Don't Panic routines show all the necessary calculation steps and handy notes as well as providing the answer.

A box and whisker plot is an ideal way to present non-parametric data.

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	Dr. Mark Gardener Lecturer: Ecology, Environment and Biometrics
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	Gardeners Own Home	Education Home	Mark's OU Students Page	My Research
Great Torrington, Devon, United Kingdom. Go to My Research Page. Go to Mark's Open University Students Page Go to the Open University Science Pages. Go to the Birmingham University Bioscience pages. Go to the Field Studies Council pages.	Welcome: This is my homepage. I am an Ecologist and currently teach as an Associate Lecturer for the Open University. Currently I teach environmental science and environment but used to tutor ecology before the course was withdrawn. See my OU students page for more background on me and for information relating to the courses I tutor on (S216, U316). Much of my teaching involves distance learning but I also teach ecology (and environmental science) in the field at residential centres run by the Field Studies Council. As part of these activities I necessarily find myself teaching statistics (I am also the statistics consultant for the MSc course in Biological Recording from Birmingham University). Over the years I have developed a number of tools to help with the teaching of statistics and the analysis of data. I'm not a programmer but am pretty handy with a spreadsheet and have created a number of packages. These are especially useful for A-Level biology and geography students as well as university undergraduates and those undertaking projects. My Don't Panic Statistics program is designed to help teach and learn statistics (as well as being handy for your project). I am in the process of adding some of my lectures to this site (see the Lectures Home page for details) and also have a separate page to help decide which statistics test is right for your data.
	My Research: My academic research has been in the area of plant-animal interactions, most notably in the area of pollination biology. My PhD was concerned with the chemistry of nectar; how it varied between plants and how animals reacted to the differing compositions. I have worked in many different habitats including: alpine meadow, desert scrub and tropical forest. Currently I am working on a plant population study in water meadows in the UK. See My Research page for more details.			A butterfly pollinates a plant.
The Field Studies Council promotes "environmental understanding for all" at it's Field Centres.	Students at Nettlecombe, Field Centre, Somerset.	Ecology and Environmental Science in the Field: There's nothing like doing practical science to aid your understanding of it. The Open University has been running residential schools in collaboration with the FSC for over 20 years. I have been involved for a bit less than that but have still seen hundreds of students peering into quadrats and trays of freshwater invertebrates.
Don't Panic Statistics is a tool for teaching and carrying out statistics. Unlike major commercial packages Don't Panic teaches the routines as you undertake them - and for a fraction of the price. One-off routines for specific tests (e.g. U-test, Spearman Rank) are available at a special rate - ideal for your project.	Learn Statistics - Don't Panic: If you are learning biology, ecology, geography or environmental science then sooner or later you will have to deal with a load of numbers: in short, statistics. I began writing spreadsheets to help myself learn statistics when I was an undergraduate. More recently these routines have been used by undergraduates and A-Level students doing field work. I am not really a programmer but am pretty handy with a spreadsheet. I have produced routines that undertake a variety of statistics including: t-test, z-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, Spearman Rank Correlation, Wilcoxon matched pairs, Chi-squared, Kruskal Wallis, ANOVA. I am in the process of "going commercial". The final product will be a set of computer files; spreadsheets will carry out stats tests and provide some help on which is the correct test to use and the right sort of input data. Other spreadsheets will provide a step-by-step guide of some of the more common statistics. You will be able to put in data and run through the calculation steps one bit at a time - useful for classroom teaching via a computer projector. A document file will provide all the background material required to take students from no understanding at all to a working knowledge of all the statistical procedures covered. I call the package Don't Panic Statistics. At the moment the routines work on Microsoft Excel (PC or Macintosh) but a previous version also works on Open Office. Eventually the package will run on any operating system. So, if you are a student or an educator and are interested then for more details.
Student's T-test Z-test Mann-Whitney U-test Spearman Rank Chi Squared Linear Regression ANOVA Kruskal Wallis Wilcoxon and more...	The Don't Panic routines show all the necessary calculation steps and handy notes as well as providing the answer.		A box and whisker plot is an ideal way to present non-parametric data.

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