Using simulation to learn about inference.

Many statistics educators use simulation to help students better understand inference. Simulations make the link between statistics and probability explicit through simulating the conditions of the null hypothesis, and then looking at sampling distributions of an appropriate measure. In this paper we review how we use simulation to help understand hypothesis testing, and lay out the relevant steps. We illustrate how using simulation and technology can make these difficult ideas more visible and understandable, through making processes more concrete, through unifying apparently disparate tests, and through letting the learners construct their own measures to study phenomena.