Meanings' construction about smapling distributions in a dynamic statistics environment.

Book: 
Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference On Teaching Statistics (ICOTS-7), Salvador, Brazil.
Authors: 
Sánchez, E., & Inzunza, S.
Editors: 
Rossman, A., & Chance, B.
Type: 
Conference Paper
Category: 
Research
Year: 
2006
Publisher: 
Voorburg, The Netherlands: International Statistical Institute.
URL: 
http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications/17/7C3_SANC.pdf
Abstract: 

This paper presents an analysis of the meanings of sampling distribution as supplied by some undergraduate students in a dynamic statistics environment (Fathom). The paper identifies stages in the simulation process where multiple and dynamic representations were crucial to students' understanding of the relationships among sample size, the behavior of sampling distributions and the probabilities of some sample results. One of the foremost difficulties observed in the simulation process was linked to the use of symbolic representations in the software, mainly at the formulation of the population model stage.

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