{"id":510,"date":"2014-12-04T11:44:18","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T16:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/?p=510"},"modified":"2014-12-04T11:46:39","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T16:46:39","slug":"how-technology-transformed-my-intro-stats-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/?p=510","title":{"rendered":"How Technology Transformed My Intro Stats Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Valorie<\/a><\/p>\n

Valorie Zonnefeld, Dordt College<\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you ever thought about the reaction to the first slide rule in the 1620s?\u00a0 Do you think some people pulled up their noses, questioning whether students would forget their \u201ccalculations\u201d?\u00a0 Did others dive in whole-heartedly, touting the advantages of teaching with their fancy new \u201cslipsticks\u201d?\u00a0 Regardless of the initial reaction, the slide rule has left its mark on the story line of mathematics.\u00a0 There is no question that technological developments continue to change how mathematics and statistics are taught.\u00a0[pullquote]The ability to use technology to simulate random phenonema has made statistics more approachable to many students.\u00a0[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Statistics education is at a turning point.\u00a0 The availability of rapid computing power is revolutionizing pedagogy and leaving its mark on statistics.\u00a0 \u00a0George Cobb (2007<\/a>) claims that what has traditionally been taught in statistics was shaped by what was computable.\u00a0 In turn, educators have relied on formulas which often left students disconnected from the ideas of inference.\u00a0 This restriction of computability no longer limits us with the availability of technological power, specifically simulations.<\/p>\n

I taught introductory statistics for the first time in 2008.\u00a0 My initial approach was traditional.\u00a0[pullquote]While my students learned from this traditional approach, I think they failed to grasp the heart of statistics\u2026statistical inference.[\/pullquote] I incorporated student-centered pedagogies, yet relied on formulas and tables.\u00a0 While my students learned from this traditional approach, I think they failed to grasp the heart of statistics\u2026statistical inference.\u00a0 My curriculum was distribution-centered and my students, in turn, saw the discipline as a set of formulas in which they hoped that they picked the correct one.\u00a0 These formulas then magically produced a number which was either significant or not.\u00a0 There was no room for moderate or strong evidence.\u00a0 The choice was dichotomous: reject the null hypothesis or fail to reject it.\u00a0 In 2011, I began using a tech-enabled, simulation-based approach to teaching statistics.\u00a0 I believe that the use of applets to simulate situations helped my students see statistics as less black and white than was previously assumed.\u00a0 They began to visually distinguish between results that were near the tail compared to those that were at the far extreme of a distribution and understood a bit more about the \u201cart\u201d of statistics.<\/p>\n

Another advantage of my change in pedagogical approach was that my students learned at a deeper level as it allowed me to use a discovery approach to teach statistics.\u00a0 [pullquote]Another advantage of my change in pedagogical approach was that my students learned at a deeper level as it allowed me to use a discovery approach to teach statistics.[\/pullquote]Using technology, my students could simulate thousands of trials in mere seconds.\u00a0 For example, instead of telling students about the normal distribution, each student in the class could create a distribution of samples from a population to describe the heights of nine-year-olds.\u00a0 This created a fun \u201caha\u201d moment as students looked around and realized that all of their distributions bore a similar bell-shape.\u00a0 This discovery-approach was a deeper, more conceptual learning experience because it actively involved my students and allowed them to construct their own understanding.<\/p>\n

Similarly, using randomization for the process of hypothesis testing allowed students to experience inference first-hand and gain a deeper understanding of the concept.\u00a0 Without technology, my students were left to \u201ctrust\u201d that the book and I were right.\u00a0 But seeing truly is believing for students.\u00a0 When they saw that in a thousand random simulations under similar circumstances a particular result did not arise, they had a deeper understanding of the strength of evidence against the null hypothesis.<\/p>\n

This \u201cseeing is believing\u201d notion is valuable for all students, but especially important considering the increased enrollment and diversification of students in statistics courses in recent decades.\u00a0 The ability to use technology to simulate random phenonema has made statistics more approachable to many students.\u00a0 Technology has left an indelible mark on how I personally teach statistics and I look forward to the mark that it will leave on statistics education as we continue to develop and improve our pedagogy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valorie Zonnefeld, Dordt College Have you ever thought about the reaction to the first slide rule in the 1620s?\u00a0 Do you think some people pulled up their noses, questioning whether students would forget their \u201ccalculations\u201d?\u00a0 Did others dive in whole-heartedly, touting the advantages of teaching with their fancy new \u201cslipsticks\u201d?\u00a0 Regardless of the initial reaction, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-do-you-use-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.causeweb.org\/sbi\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}