Implementing A Computerized Tutor In A Statistical Reasoning Course: Getting The Big Picture

Many schools, like Carnegie Mellon University, are now teaching introductory statistical reasoning courses in a way that emphasizes conceptual understanding of the basic ideas of data analysis. There are several challenges in teaching such a course; foremost among them is the difficulty of conveying a sense of the "Big Picture." This paper describes a computerized learning tool that we have developed to help overcome this obstacle. This tool is a cognitive tutor in which students solve data-analysis problems and receive individually tailored feedback. We discuss our cognitive tutor's use in the course and its measured effectiveness in a controlled experiment.