Young Students’Informal Statistical Knowledge

This article reports some results of an informal study of very young children's reactions to some visual displays of data.     

Paper‐Clip Case: A Practical Activity to Improve Statistical Thinking for Engineering Students

In this article I present an activity introducing statistical concepts to engineering students to help them develop inductive reasoning and problem‐solving skills.     

The Royal Statistical Society Schools Lecture 2004: ‘Lies and Statistics’, Part 1

This article is the first of a two‐part printed version of the Royal Statistical Society's Schools Lecture for 2004, on ‘Lies and Statistics’.     

The Association between Students’ Evaluation of Teaching and Grades

The results of a student evaluation of teaching instrument are analyzed for a semester of classes at a large collegiate business school, at both the graduate and undergraduate academic level. In particular, we concentrate on the relationship between responses to the instrument and student grades. The results show interesting differences, suggesting dissimilarities, especially for gender, academic level, and field. Our research suggests that academic administrators and others need be cautious when they use such data in evaluating teaching.     

Assessment of Students’ Understanding of Variation

Several tasks used in research studies are presented with assessment rubrics and examples of the development of student understanding. The tasks focus on students’ appreciation of variation in several contexts and illustrate the need to discuss variation in the classroom and to ask students specifically about it during assessment.     

Internet Approach versus Lecture and Lab‐Based Approach for Teaching an Introductory Statistical Methods Course: Students’ Opinions

The use of the Internet as a teaching tool continues to grow in popularity at colleges and universities. We consider, from the students’ perspective, the use of an Internet approach compared to a lecture and lab‐based approach for teaching an introductory course in statistical methods. We conducted a survey of introductory statistics students. Contradictory to what was hypothesized by the authors, they favoured keeping the lecture and lab‐based approach for teaching the class.     

浅析初中学生在物理学习过程中的思维障碍

从学生思维因素、学生个人因素、学生知识因素,以及学生技能和能力因素对初中学生物理过程中产生思维障碍的原因进行了分析,阐明了排除学生思维障碍,培养健康的物理思维的重要性。     

Randomizing Roaches: Exploring the ‘Bugs’ of Randomization in Experimental Design

Understanding the roles of random selection and random assignment in experimental design is a central learning objective in most introductory statistics courses. This article describes an activity, appropriate for a high school or introductory statistics course, designed to teach the concepts, values and pitfalls of random selection and assignment using the not‐easily‐forgotten Madagascar hissing cockroach. Evidence is summarized demonstrating conceptual gains for students performing the Randomizing Roaches activity, and follow‐up activities are suggested.     

Learning the principles of simulation using the birthday problem

Using the famous Birthday problem, we present here a practical activity that allows students to perceive the basic reasoning behind simulation and explore its potential. Through a playful approach with probabilities, students are led along a path that illustrates difficulties with intuition and introduces them to theoretical results for sample proportions.     

人类一般思维规律的探索

通过分析逻辑学、哲学、心理学和思维科学等学科对研究思维规律的启示,尝试提出“联结律”、“组织律”、“人本律”、“变换律”和“互动律”为人类思维的一般规律。     

‘Females Don’t Need to be Reluctant’: Employing Design Thinking to Harness Creative Confidence and Interest in STEAM

There is great gender gap in mathematics and science among countries around the world, but the gender gap is one of the largest in Japan. In order to address this issue, we evaluated an educational intervention to empower the next generation of female youths by employing design thinking to ignite their interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) fields. In this article, we explain the rationale for the intervention, describe the unique three‐day curriculum employing design thinking, and share the results from the intervention. There are four key findings of our study. After participating in the workshop, the middle school female students showed greater interest in STEAM fields, demonstrated increased levels of creative confidence, cultivated a greater sense of empathy for others, and exhibited greater appreciation for collaboration. This study highlights the possibilities and opportunities for using design thinking to encourage female youths to become more interested in STEAM fields.     

Students’ misconceptions of statistical inference: A review of the empirical evidence from research on statistics education

A solid understanding of inferential statistics is of major importance for designing and interpreting empirical results in any scientific discipline. However, students are prone to many misconceptions regarding this topic. This article structurally summarizes and describes these misconceptions by presenting a systematic review of publications that provide empirical evidence of them. This group of publications was found to be dispersed over a wide range of specialized journals and proceedings, and the methodology used in the empirical studies was very diverse. Three research needs rise from this review: (1) further empirical studies that identify the sources and possible solutions for misconceptions in order to complement the abundant theoretical and statistical discussion about them; (2) new insights into effective research designs and methodologies to perform this type of research; and (3) structured and systematic summaries of findings like the one presented here, concerning misconceptions in other areas of statistics, that might be of interest both for educational researchers and teachers of statistics.     

章士钊新闻思想初探

章士钊是我国近代新闻史上的重要人物,一生参与或主办的报刊达30余种,其新闻实践和思想对当时和后世产生了重要而深刻的影响。该文总结了章氏的主要新闻思想,即反对制定报律,主张言论出版自由;坚持言论独立的办报思想;主张建立“新闻托拉斯”;阐述政党政治与新闻之间的关系;重视读者意见;反对报纸攻击个人隐私及重视培养新闻人才等。在此基础上,对章士钊新闻思想的来源、特色和影响作了初步探讨。     

关于思维研究的突破口的新探析

20世纪80年代以来,被誉为"航天之父"的钱学森先生,对于思维科学的研究,发表了许多精辟之论,呼吁学界加大对思维科学的研究力度,特别是"形象思维是思维科学研究的突破口"。这一观点的发表,引起学界的热烈反响。随即掀起了一个研究形象思维的热潮。作者认为:形象思维的研究没有突破,也就是思维科学的研究没有获得突破。原因可能是所有研究者的水平太低或努力不够;但也可能是钱老提出的命题本身就有问题,尽管形象思维是复杂的,但比形象思维还要复杂的思维并非没有。作者认为,思维科学研究的突破口,应当从更复杂的立体思维,复杂思维与创新思维中探寻。     

An Assessment of Statistical Process Control-Based Approaches for Charting Student Evaluation Scores

We compare three control charts for monitoring data from student evaluations of teaching (SET) with the goal of improving student satisfaction with teaching performance. The two charts that we propose are a modified p chart and a z‐score chart. We show that these charts overcome some of the shortcomings of the more traditional charts for analyzing SET data. A comparison of three charts (an individuals chart, the modified p chart, and the z‐score chart) reveals that the modified p chart is the best approach for analyzing SET data because it utilizes distributions that are appropriate for categorical data, and its interpretation is more straightforward. We conclude that administrators and faculty alike can benefit by using the modified p chart to monitor and improve teaching performance as measured by student evaluations.     

Exploration of experimental design and statistical methods using the stick‐on‐the‐wall spaghetti rule

We present a versatile scenario to introduce students to statistics: the test that spaghetti sticks only if sufficiently done. The statistical analyses can be performed at different levels of complexity and formal correctness, adapting it to the students' age.     

从本质主义到生成性思维：现代教学设计的路径探寻

由本质主义转向生成性思维是当代西方哲学的最强音。随着这种思维方式的转换,传统的教学设计逐渐暴露出其内在的局限．而生成性思维为课堂教学设计开拓了全新的视野。     

有关少数民族学生汉语教学与认知规律的探讨

本文从心理学的角度分析论述了我区少数民族汉语教学与认知规律的一些矛盾，并且指出了解决的方法。     

在语文教学中进行探究性学习的几点思考

探究性学习已成为学生的主要学习方式之一。在语文教学中进行探究性学习，教师必须牢记自己的角色定位，必须正确认识探究性学习的实质，必须制定出符合探究性学习实际的教学方案。     

郑观应国防思想初探

19世纪以来，列强入侵中国日益严重，而清政府在政治、经济、外交、军事等方面都处于劣势。为拯救民族危亡，郑观应从诸方面提出了改革设想，加强国防即其改革思想的重要内容。其加强国防的构想不仅体现了时代的要求，也为清末的军事改革奠定了基础：