A lab activity for teaching physics students the fundamentals of statistical analysis during the first few weeks of instruction is described. This activity involves students timing a pulse of light generated by an Arduino device of fixed duration with individual timers (e.g. stopwatch, iPhone timer). To select the most precise timing methods and to calibrate their timings to account for bias, students first time a known duration of an ordinary classroom clock. Because students are not informed of the true pulse duration until after they turn in their lab reports, they must express the estimated duration of the light pulse in terms of confidence intervals. This activity arises from the need for students to leverage the power of statistics to (1) optimize lab procedures through data-driven decision-making, (2) correct for bias through calibration, and (3) gauge the quality of their work in terms of confidence rather than correctness. The authors conclude that this three-step process aligns lab procedures closer to industry practices and elevates cognition and engagement among students.