Active learning of statistics: a case study

Abstract

Students studying psychology or a social science have to take courses in statistics, but students often experience difficulties in learning statistical concepts and techniques. Indeed, there is a body of interdisciplinary research that indicates that students tend to have confusions and difficulties with a variety of topics in statistics (Garfield and Ahlgren, 1988; Shaughnessy, 1992). It has been found that students hold misconceptions relating to fundamental statistical concepts, such as the mean and correlation (Mevarech, 1983; Morris, 1997). Research in computer-based learning has looked at how the computer can be used effectively to address students' statistical misconceptions and help students come to understand key statistical ideas (Cumming and Thomason, 1995; Morris, 1998).