Greater Emphasis on Variation in an Introductory Statistics Course

An important theme in an introductory statistics course is the connection between statistics and the outside world. Described in this chapter are assignments that can be useful in getting students to learn how to gather and process information presented in the news and scientific reports. These assignments seem to work well only when students have direction about how to do this kind of research. Three versions of the assignment are provided. In all three, students read a news story and the original report on which the article was based, and they complete a worksheet with guidelines for summarizing the reported study. In some versions students are supplied the news story and report and in another each student finds a news article and tracks down the original report on her own. Included here are our guidelines, example instructional packets, and the process we use to organize each type of assignment.

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INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS COURSE TERTIARY STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF P-VALUES

STATISTICS EDUCATION RESEARCH JOURNAL ◽

10.52041/serj.v13i1.298 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 53-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

ROBYN REABURN

Keyword(s):

Null Hypothesis ◽

Probabilistic Reasoning ◽

Statistics Education ◽

Introductory Statistics ◽

P Values ◽

Testing Procedures ◽

Research Journal ◽

Null Hypothesis Testing ◽

Statistics Course ◽

Teaching Programs

This study aimed to gain knowledge of students’ beliefs and difficulties in understanding p-values, and to use this knowledge to develop improved teaching programs. This study took place over four consecutive teaching semesters of a one-semester tertiary statistics unit. The study was cyclical, in that the results of each semester were used to inform the instructional design for the following semester. Over the semesters, the following instructional techniques were introduced: computer simulation, the introduction of hypothetical probabilistic reasoning using a familiar context, and the use of alternative representations. The students were also encouraged to write about their work. As the interventions progressed, a higher proportion of students successfully defined and used p-values in Null Hypothesis Testing procedures. First published May 2014 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

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AN EXPLORATION OF STUDENT ATTITUDES AND SATISFACTION IN A GAISE-INFLUENCED INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS COURSE

STATISTICS EDUCATION RESEARCH JOURNAL ◽

10.52041/serj.v16i2.203 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 487-510

Author(s):

WARREN PAUL

Keyword(s):

Student Attitudes ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Statistics Education ◽

Student Feedback ◽

Introductory Statistics ◽

Group Discussions ◽

Research Journal ◽

Statistics Course ◽

Attitudes Toward Statistics ◽

Students Attitudes

We used the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics to (1) evaluate using pre-semester data the Students’ Attitudes Toward Statistics Model (SATS-M), and (2) test the effect on attitudes of an introductory statistics course redesigned according to the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) by examining the change in attitudes over the semester and, using supplementary data from an annual Student Feedback Survey, testing for a change in overall satisfaction following implementation of the redesigned course. We took an exploratory rather than confirmatory approach in both parts of this study using Bayesian networks and structural equation modelling. These results were triangulated with analysis of focus group discussions and the annual Student Feedback Survey. First published November 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

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