Putting Cognitive Science Behind a Statistics Teacher's Intuition

Recent advances in cognitive science have led to an enriched understanding of how people learn. Using a framework presented by Willingham, this article examines instructional best practice from the perspective of conceptual understanding and its implications on statistics education.     

What is a p‐value?

An in‐class activity is described that can be used not only to motivate hypothesis testing, but also to understand and compute the p‐value and power in a statistical test.     

Elementary Statistics with Minitab

Computer packages are available which can take much of the tedium out of the computational aspects of statistics and, we hope, thereby improve comprehension of the concepts. This article describes how the software package Minitab was incorporated into two elementary statistics courses, one at Kingston Polytechnic in England, the other at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the United States.     

The graphics calculator as a teaching aid in statistics

This article explores some ideas for the imaginative use of a graphics calculator in introductory statistics teaching.     

High‐speed hypotheses!

This article presents engaging interactive hypothesis tests which can be conducted with students very efficiently.     

Using Real Life Examples to Teach Abstract Statistical Concepts

This article provides real life examples that can be used to explain statistical concepts. It does not attempt to be exhaustive, but rather, provide a few examples for selected concepts based on what students should know after taking a statistics course.     

Intuitive Analysis of Variance – A Formative Assessment Approach

This article describes an assessment activity that can show students how much they intuitively understand about statistics, but also alert them to common misunderstandings. How the activity can be used formatively to help improve students' conceptual understanding of analysis of variance is discussed.     

Employing Introductory Statistics Students at ‘Stats Dairy’

To combat students' fear of statistics I employ my students at a fictional company, Stats Dairy, run by cows. Almost all examples used in the class notes, exercises, humour and exams use data ‘collected’ from this company.     

Industry,Quality, Statistics and Vocational Education

This article reviews the development and current place of Statistical Quality Control and points out the implications for vocational education.     

A Walker Runs Through the Syllabus

A bag of 24 packets of a well‐known brand of crisps provides a handy visual (and edible) aid to looking at the syllabus of a basic course in statistics.     

The Effect of Integrating Aesthetic Understanding in Reflective Inquiry Activities

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of integrating aesthetic understanding in reflective inquiry activities. Three typical classes of Taiwanese eighth graders (n = 106) and nine additional low‐achieving students in the same school participated in the study. The treatment for experimental students emphasized scaffolding aesthetic understanding and reflections on inquiry strategies. It was found that the experimental group students consistently outperformed their counterparts on the post‐test and the delayed post‐test in conceptual understanding and application of science knowledge. In addition, the low‐achieving students were motivated by the treatment and made significant progress on the two tests. The results of interview and classroom observation also revealed that the intervention made a difference in students’ affective perceptions.     

Earth's Surface Water Percentage?

A hands-on activity is used to illustrate standard point and interval estimates of a proportion. Since the proportion is more or less known, the accuracy of these estimates can be assessed. A hypothesis test associated with the interval estimate is also given.     

Integrating the epistemic and ontological aspects of content knowledge in science teaching and learning

A study has been made of how physics problems are attempted by school and by university students, in both examination and tutorial situations. The performance of the students is interpreted within the framework of a psychological model of learning which incorporates working memory capacity and disembedding ability. The implications of the results for teaching and for setting problems is emphasized, in that the same question in different forms may be testing different skills.     

Fifteen To One

This article shows how data from a television game show can be used as a basis for illustrating many statistical procedures.     

A Classroom Demonstration of Hypothesis Testing

This article describes a classroom demonstration that may be used to encourage students’ development and understanding of the idea of hypothesis testing.     

水质工程学教学方法探讨

水质工程学是给排水专业的主干课程之一。该课程不仅影响学生未来事业的发展,而且对我国环境保护也具有重要意义。为提高教学效果,必须使学生充分认识到该课程的重要性,提高学生兴趣;采用先进的教学手段,使教学更生动形象,教学内容更易于接受;根据教学目的调整教学内容,增强学生的知识应用能力与科研开发能力。     

数理统计教学探讨

本文主要从重视概率论中常见相关分布、数理统计的概念、基本思想和难点四个方面探讨了如何搞好数理统计的教学。     

Argumentation Practices in Classroom: Pre-service teachers' conceptual understanding of chemical equilibrium

This study examines the impact of argumentation practices on pre-service teachers' understanding of chemical equilibrium. The sample consisted of 100 pre-service teachers in two classes of a public university. One of these classes was assigned as experimental and the other as control group, randomly. In the experimental group, the subject of chemical equilibrium was taught by using argumentative practices and the participants were encouraged to participate in the lessons actively. However, the instructor taught the same subject by using the lecturing method without engaging argumentative activities in the control group. The Chemical Equilibrium Concept Test and Written Argumentation Survey were administered to all participants to assess their conceptual understanding and the quality of their arguments, respectively. The analysis of covariance results indicate that argumentation practices significantly improved conceptual understanding of the experimental group when compared to the control group. Furthermore, the results show that the pre-service teachers exposed to argumentative practices constructed more quality arguments than those in the control group after the instruction. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the instruction based on argumentative practices is effective in concept teaching in science education. Therefore, argumentation should be explicitly taught in teacher education besides elementary and secondary education.     

输入输出理论下大学英语视听说的教学实践

该文从分析克拉申的“输入假设”和斯万的“输出假设”理论入手,探讨了了两种假设理论的意义,以及二者在目标语言的学习过程中是密不可分、相辅相成的关系。继而探索如何有效地运用这两种理论来指导大学英语“视听说”教学的具体实践,成功地提高学生英语语言综合能力。