Journal Article

  • Computationally intensive methods of statistical inference do not fit the current canon of pedagogy in statistics. Seven pedagogical principles are proposed to accommodate those methods and the logic underlying them. These include defining inferential statistics as techniques for reckoning with chance; distinguishing 3 types of research (sample surveys, experiments, and correlational studies); teaching random-sampling theory in the context of sample surveys, augmenting the conventional treatment with bootstrapping; and noting that random assignment fosters internal but not external validity. The additional principles are explaining the general logic for testing a null model; teaching randomization tests as well as t , F , and x-sup-2 ; and acknowledging the problems of applying inferential statistics in the absence of deliberately introduced randomness. (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1996 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)

  • Discusses the creation of assistance software for the social sciences that will allow the undertrained or untrained to perform statistical analyses and research methods. Three areas are proposed as major contributors to the development of easier to use assistance software: (1) authoring software with a variety of instructional and learning applications, (2) the new, inexpensive multimedia capabilities of sound, animation, pictures, and motion video that allow the users to use all their senses in the learning process, and (3) the ability to link scattered software operations and resources into an automated whole. Examples of current hardware and software tools within each of the 3 areas are examined. (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1994 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)

  • This activity consists of two problem situations, each illustrating how a computer can be used as a tool to assist students in solving mathematical problems. In one, numerous calculations are performed by the computer; the second uses a Monte Carlo model to simulate a physical action. (MNS)

  • Describes a graduate student microcomputer laboratory set up to teach data analysis techniques. Microcomputer versions of SAS and SPSS statistical programs were incorporated into homework assignments. Shifting from the use of mainframe to microcomputer statistical software allowed an increase in the number of assigned homework exercises and made it easier to integrate statistical output into research reports. (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1991 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)

  • Presents a method for evaluating educational software. The evaluation is designed as a field study, and is comprised of a test of remedial skills, an essay test of conceptual understanding, and a system that records how students use a given program. The instruments were used to evaluate ConStatS, a program for teaching conceptual understanding of probability and statistics. Ss were 327 undergraduates who used ConStatS and 63 control Ss who used tool-based statistics software but not ConStatS. Ss in the experimental group did better on 92 of the 103 questions than control Ss; the 10 questions on which the experimental group showed the greatest improvement over the control group involved transformations, probability, and the concepts of deviation and sensitivity of summary measures. (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1995 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)

  • Presents a simple model of generative learning that permits the definition of 4 kinds of interactions (scaffolding, investigation, reformulation, and navigation) and a system for tracing and recording how students use educational technology. This model will maintain a link between interaction and learning, thus providing one method for the assessment of a wide range of educational technology environments. Two results are presented from an evaluation of ConStatS, a program for teaching conceptual understanding of probability and statistics, in which 659 college students participated. Both results focus on a specific interaction that correlates with increased learning, and on the general patterns of interaction that characterize students who execute the interactions. (PsycLIT Database Copyright 1996 American Psychological Assn, all rights reserved)

  • Evaluates the use of computerized tutorial support for elementary statistics instruction in five education and social work courses, both graduate and undergraduate. Pretests and posttests used to measure student attitudes toward statistics and toward computers are described, and preferred learning environments before and after the course are discussed. (8 references) (Author/LRW)

  • Visualizations of the law of large numbers are discussed and it is asked what are the implications for the classroom.

  • A computer-based strategy for illustrating the central limit theorem is described which introduces students to the important concept of a simulation model. The computer program is included. (MNS)

  • Computer simulation provides an effective vehicle for teaching many concepts, especially in probability and statistics. Described is a simulation for the applicability of the t distribution to the estimation of a population mean when the standard deviation of the population is unknown. (MNS)

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