Researchers and educators have found that statistical ideas are often misunderstood by students and professionals. In order to develop better statistical reasoning, students need to first construct a deeper understanding of fundamental concepts. The Sampling Distributions program and ancillary instructional materials were developed to guide student exploration and discovery. The program allows students to specify and change the shape of a population, choose different sample sizes, and simulate sampling distributions by randomly drawing large numbers of samples. The program provides graphical, visual feedback that allows students to construct their own understanding of sampling distribution behavior. To capture changes in students' conceptual understanding we developed diagnostic, graphics-based test items that were administered before and after students used the program. An activity that asked students to test their predictions and confront their misconceptions was found to be more effective than one based on guided discovery. Our findings demonstrate that while software can provide the means for a rich classroom experience, computer simulations alone do not guarantee conceptual change.
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