Students increasingly need to learn to communicate statistical results clearly and effectively, as well as to become competent consumers of statistical information. These two learning goals are particularly important for business students. In line with reform movements in Statistics Education and the GAISE guidelines, we are working to implement teaching strategies and assessment methods that align instruction and assessment with our learning goals. One of the main instructional tools we use is group projects with elements of data collection and analysis, written and oral presentation, and self, peer and professor assessment. This paper addresses specific challenges encountered while teaching and directing group work in a highly multicultural context of 10 to 20 different nationalities in the same classroom. It also focuses on the learning benefits of having students work collaboratively to discuss, write, present, and assess statistics projects in English.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education