Literature Index

Displaying 2841 - 2850 of 3326
  • Author(s):
    Garfield, J. B., delMas, R. C., & Chance, B. L.
    Year:
    1999
    Abstract:
    This paper examines the role of assessment in research studies focused on the teaching and learning of statistics at the undergraduate or graduate level. Some advantages and limitations for types of assessment methods typically used in statistics education research are summarized. An alternative framework is offered for conceptualizing assessment and its role in studies of statistics education. This framework is based on the theory of conceptual change. An illustration will be offered: a study of the impact of the use of computer simulations on learning statistical inference. Examples of the types of assessment embedded in this ongoing research project will be shared.
  • Author(s):
    Gal, I., & Ginsburg, L.
    Year:
    1994
    Abstract:
    While many teachers of statistics are likely to focus on transmitting knowledge, many students are likely to have trouble with statistics due to non-cognitive factors, such as negative attitudes or beliefs towards statistics. Such factors can impede learning of statistics, or hinder the extent to which students will develop useful statistical intuitions and apply what they have learned outside the classroom. This paper reviews the role of affect and attitudes in the learning of statistics, critiques current instruments for assessing attitudes and beliefs of students, and explores assessment methods teachers can use to gauge students' dispositions regarding statistics.
  • Author(s):
    Gal, I., & Ginsburg, L.
    Year:
    1994
    Abstract:
    While many teachers of statistics are likely to focus on transmitting knowledge, many students are likely to have trouble with statistics due to non-cognitive factors, such as negative attitudes or beliefs towards statistics. Such factors can impede learning of statistics, or hinder the extent to which students will develop useful statistical intuitions and apply what they have learned outside the classroom. This paper reviews the role of affect and attitudes in the learning of statistics, critiques current instruments for assessing attitudes and beliefs of students, and explores assessment methods teachers can use to gauge students' dispositions regarding statistics.
  • Author(s):
    Prodromou, T., & Pratt, D.
    Editors:
    Gal, I., & Short, T.
    Year:
    2006
    Abstract:
    Our primary goal is to design a microworld which aspires to research thinking-in-change about distribution. Our premise, in line with a constructivist approach and our prior research, is that thinking about distribution must develop from causal meanings already established. This study reports on a design research study of how students appear to exploit their appreciation of causal control to construct new situated meanings for the distribution of throws and success rates. We provided on-screen control mechanisms for average and spread that could be deterministic or subject to stochastic error. The students used these controls to recognize the limitations of causality in the short term but its power in making sense of the emergence of distributional patterns. We suggest that the concept of distribution lies in co-ordinating emergent data-centric and modeling perspectives for distribution and that causality may play a central role in supporting that co-ordination process.
  • Author(s):
    Lipson, K.
    Editors:
    Phillips, B.
    Year:
    2002
    Abstract:
    Traditionally, the concept of sampling distribution has been seen as fundamental to an understanding of introductory statistical inference. As a result many computer packages have been developed which offer activities intended to support the development of this concept. However, we need to recognise that the concept of sampling distribution is complex and multi-faceted, with many different mathematical and symbolic representations possible. Computer simulations of the sampling distribution tend to address only the empirical representation of this concept, and leave the linking of representations to the user. And it is the development of these links which is critical to the development of understanding in statistical inference. This paper reports some results of a study analysing the role of the computer-based technology in the development of understanding of sampling distribution.
  • Editors:
    Makar, K., & Ben-Zvi, D.
    Year:
    2011
  • Author(s):
    Cynthia Langrall; Steven Nisbet; Edward Mooney; Sinchai Jansem
    Year:
    2011
    Abstract:
    Our research addresses the role that context expertise plays when students compare data. We report findings from a study conducted in 3 countries: Australia, United States, and Thailand. In each country, six middle school students analyzed authentic data relating to selected students' areas of interest. We examined the data analysis processes and discussion among students as each country cohort worked in two groups of three, where only one group included a student with particular expertise with the data context. We found that students used context knowledge to (a) bring new insight or additional information to the task, (b) explain the data, (c) provide justification or qualification for claims, (d) identify useful data for the task at hand, and (e) state facts that may enhance the picture of the data but are irrelevant to the process of analyzing the data. Implications for practice are discussed
  • Author(s):
    Maxine Pfannkuch
    Year:
    2011
    Abstract:
    Context is identified as an important factor when considering the learning of informal statistical inferential reasoning, but research in this area is very limited. This small exploratory study in one grade 10 (14 year olds) classroom seeks to learn more about the role context plays in learners' inferential reasoning, where both teacher and students are positioned as learners. Two frameworks for context are used to analyze the classroom dialogue: The data-context used in statistical enquiry and in the formation of statistical concepts and the learning-experience-contexts such as prior statistical knowledge, which can affect the learning process. The analysis tracks the learning of informal inferential reasoning before, during, and after the introduction of sampling variability concepts. Data-context was found to assist learners in finding meaning from observed patterns, but could divert their attention during the construction of concepts and when attempting to apply newly-learned theory. Learning-experience-contexts played a significant role in mediating learners' development of informal inferential reasoning. Implications for developing concepts for informal inferential reasoning and for research are discussed.
  • Author(s):
    Makar, K., & Ben-Zvi, D.
    Year:
    2011
  • Author(s):
    Ben-Zvi, D., & Gil, E.
    Editors:
    C. Reading
    Year:
    2010
    Abstract:
    The role of context is discussed in the setting of an extended curriculum development and research project in primary school designed to develop and study students' reasoning about statistical inference. Qualitative research methods are used to critically dissect the roles of context in the emergence of sixth grade students' informal inferential reasoning (IIR). Context is examined as part of a complex network of themes, such as inquiry, norms, knowledge of statistical concepts and tools, beliefs and expectations, and meaning making and explanations. The paper analyzes and discusses these themes and the role context plays in the emerging inferential reasoning of these students. 

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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