Literature Index

Displaying 71 - 80 of 3326
  • Author(s):
    DeBower, C. E., & DeBower, K. L.
    Year:
    1990
    Abstract:
    Reasons for poor performance in mathematics by students in the United States are discussed. According to the authors, too many students never experience arithmetic at a physical, concrete level. Students are drilled in arithmetic facts without any meaningful context and are given few opportunities to use numerical concepts in real-life applications. Described in this fastback in the form of a Decalogue, or ten commandments, are methods that can be used to teach mathematics successfully. These commandments hold for every grade level including postsecondary mathematics. Topics include: (1) the use of manipulatives and visuals; (2) cooperative learning models; (3) diagnosis of student development; (4) unit plan development; (5) problem solving; (6) algebra and geometry; (7) the use of computers and calculators; (8) mental computation, estimation, and measurement; (9) probability and statistics; (10) integration of skills and techniques from different branches of mathematics. (KR)
  • Author(s):
    Mevarech, Z. R.
    Year:
    1983
    Abstract:
    The present study investigated a model used by non-mathematically oriented students in solving problems in descriptive statistics. Analyses show that college students mistakenly assume that a set of means together with simple mean computation constitutes a mathematical group satisfying the four axioms of closure, associativity, identity, and inverse. this set of misconceptions is so deeply ingrained in a students' underlying knowledge base that mere exposure to a more advanced course in statistics is not sufficient to overcome those misconceptions. However, results of an experiment indicated that most students were able to acquire the appropriate schema of statistical concepts by engaging in diagnostic activities embedded within a feedback-corrective procedure.
  • Author(s):
    Naya, S., Cao, R., Labora, A. & Ríos, M.
    Editors:
    Phillips, B.
    Year:
    2002
    Abstract:
    Some examples from the teaching proposal, elaborated by us, for the subject "Statistical and Numerical Methods" (SNM) are presented. SNM is an optional course in the last year of High School in Galicia (Spain). More specifically, we are concerned with the introduction of some new concepts at this teaching level in the Galician education system, namely, Markov chains, statistical inference and time series.
  • Author(s):
    Love, T. E.
    Year:
    2000
    Abstract:
    An approach used to assess project team work in a condensed (half-term) elective course is discussed. The instructor's evaluation method signals appropriate course goals to students. The scheme described encourages student groups to prepare presentations that will be attractive to people who will evaluate their work in the real world. Colleague comments determine one-half of each student's course grade. Students are randomly selected to lead the presentations, ensuring that all students are thoroughly involved in the process (including assessment). A report on the projects (and comments) completed by Masters of Business Administration (MBA) students at a midwestern school of management is provided, along with the inventory used to assess each team's work.
  • Author(s):
    Siva Ganesh
    Year:
    2008
    Abstract:
    Many tertiary institutions now include 'Data Mining' as a topic in their Statistics curriculum,<br>both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The choice of software for learning the topic of<br>Data Mining is an interesting issue to think about. There is a wide range of such software<br>available, from commercially popular ones such as SAS/Enterprise Miner, Statistica/Data Miner<br>and S-plus/Insightful Miner to free ones such as R and Weka. The main aim of this paper is to<br>discuss the pros and cons of such software, including their capabilities to handle and manipulate<br>large volumes data, all from a teaching/learning point of view at both introductory and more<br>advanced levels.
  • Author(s):
    Kepner, H. S.
    Year:
    1992
    Abstract:
    This report describes a project that was organized to prepare teams of people to become change agents in their districts and in the profession of statistics.
  • Author(s):
    Ayers-Nachamkin, B.
    Year:
    1992
    Abstract:
    That women on the average tend to suffer from math anxiety and to perform less well in advanced mathematics classes, when they are found there at all, are repeatedly documented facts that operate as highly effective barriers to women's achievement in a variety of domains. As a math anxious individual, I avoided all math in high school and agonized through the necessary courses as a traditionally aged student in college, and again as a returning student in graduate school. It seems ironic that one of the first courses I instituted when I became a college professor at a small liberal arts college for women was an introductory statistics course. Social psychology is my discipline, however, and one of the changes I noted between the time I earned my bachelors degree in 1964 and the time I entered graduate school in 1977 was that women had become a great deal more visible in psychology, even powerful in some instances. It seemed to me that many of these women also tended to be first-rate statisticians; in fact, rather than being intimidated by numbers, these women were actually using sophisticated statistics to help write women back into psychology. I decided to do what I could to work through my own math anxiety, and, in turn, to try to teach statistics in such a way that others, regardless of their discipline, would find the subject approachable, useful, even fun from their first exposure at the college level. In the beginning, I conceived of the course as simply taking a math-anxious approach. As time has gone by, I have learned more about Feminism as a philosophy/ideology and have begun to recognize that what I had called a math-anxious approach to statistics was actually a Feminist approach. With that recognition, I have begun to apply those principles even more consciously.
  • Author(s):
    Clark, M.
    Editors:
    Rossman, A., &amp; Chance, B.
    Year:
    2006
    Abstract:
    A well known dilemma for statistics educators is that while different groups of students learn best in different ways (see for example Cotts, 1994), usually there are only a few instructors for a course operating within tight time and content constraints, especially at first year university level. I will outline a way of partially accommodating the needs of indigenous and migrant students of first year statistics, arrived at by co-operation with the local community and taking their aspirations into account. We also kept in mind what the students themselves wanted from the course and how they planned to use statistics in their lives. Our programme has achieved successful outcomes for many of these students and while we work within a New Zealand framework there are many aspects of our programme that can be adapted in other countries.
  • Author(s):
    Kilpatrick, J.
    Year:
    2001
    Abstract:
    The Mathematics Learning Study committee offers a promising mechanism for helping those concerned with school mathematics begin to use the available research more productively. The committee of practitioners, research mathematicians, cognitive psychologists, researchers in mathematics education, and a representative from the business community was convened by the National Research Council to synthesize the research on preK-8 mathematics learning to provide recommendations for best practice in the early years of schooling. Committee members applied the criteria of relevance, soundness, and generalizability in examining the evidence on mathematics learning and looked for a body of evidence that converged on a single point and that made good common and theoretical sense among the research studies that met those criteria for a given topic. A consensus had to be reached on the studies that would be cited in the draft report and the language that would be used to describe them. The entire draft was then reviewed by 15 independent reviewers.
  • Author(s):
    Jones, G. A., Langrall, C. W., Thornton, C. A., &amp; Mogill, A. T.
    Year:
    1997
    Abstract:
    Based on a synthesis of the literature and observations of young children over two years, a framework for assessing probabilistic thinking was formulated, refined and validated. The major constructs incorporated in this framework were sample space, probability of an event, probability comparisons, and conditional probability. For each of these constructs, four levels of thinking, which reflected a continuum from subjective to numerical reasoning, were established. At each level, and across all four constructs, learning descriptors were developed and used to generate probability tasks. The framework was validated through data obtained from eight grade three children who served as case studies. The thinking of these children was assessed at three points over a school year and analyzed using the problem tasks in interview settings. The results suggest that although the framework produced a coherent picture of children's thinking in probability, there was 'static' in the system which generated inconsistencies within levels of thinking. These inconsistencies were more pronounced following instruction. The levels of thinking in the framework appear to be in agreement with levels of cognitive functioning postulated by Neo-Piagetian theorists and provide a theoretical foundation for designers of curriculum and assessment programs in elementary school probability. Further studies are needed to investigate whether the framework is appropriate for children from other cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

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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