PnB-W16 - Application-Based Biostatistics Labs and Student Confidence, Motivation, and Engagement

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The present work describes a Teaching-as-Research redesign of a sequence of undergraduate biostatistics laboratory sessions aimed at strengthening student confidence, motivation, and engagement in statistical decision-making. Lab exercises emphasized scaffolded learning, hands-on activities (including dice-rolling and simulations), and analysis of real biomedical datasets supported by brief research or clinical context. To examine the impact of this redesign, multiple sources of evidence were collected, including pre and post confidence surveys, formative and end-of-semester motivation surveys, observer-recorded engagement across laboratory sessions, and open-ended student reflections. Results indicate a significant increase in student confidence in selecting and interpreting statistical tests between pre- and post-course surveys, sustained high motivation across the semester, and engagement that varied across laboratory sessions. Student reflections highlighted the value of hands-on activities, real datasets, and teaching assistant and peer interaction in supporting learning. This work was conducted in an undergraduate Biomedical Engineering laboratory course at a large public research university. The course enrolled 33 sophomore-level students, most of whom had limited prior experience with statistical methods.