Learning Abstract Statistics Concepts Using Simulation

Abstract

The teaching and learning of statistics has impacted the curriculum in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Because of this growing movement to expand and include statistics into all levels of education, there is also a considerable interest in how to teach statistics. For statistics concepts that tend to be very difficult or abstract, many researchers have recommended using computer simulation methods (CSMs), but there have been very few empirically and theoretically based studies related to student achievement using these methods. The purpose of this study was to determine whether using CSMs enhanced student understanding of abstract statistics concepts for students enrolled in an introductory course. Based on a theoretical framework of how students learn statistics, the preliminary results of this study indicate some evidence that these methods may improve student understanding of