Cover image for A guide to teaching statistics : innovations and best practices
Title:
A guide to teaching statistics : innovations and best practices
Personal Author:
Series:
Teaching psychological science ; 3
Publication Information:
Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2009
Physical Description:
xix, 253 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
ISBN:
9781405155748
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30000010204846 QA276.18 H86 2009 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

A Guide to Teaching Statistics: Innovations and Best Practices addresses the critical aspects of teaching statistics to undergraduate students, acting as an invaluable tool for both novice and seasoned teachers of statistics. Guidance on textbook selection, syllabus construction, and course outline Classroom exercises, computer applications, and Internet resources designed to promote active learning Tips for incorporating real data into course content Recommendations on integrating ethics and diversity topics into statistics education Strategies to assess student's statistical literacy, thinking, and reasoning skills Additional material online at www.teachstats.org


Author Notes

Michael R. Hulsizer is Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was honored with the prestigious William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching (2002). He has attended numerous National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology conferences and has won awards for posters presented at the conference. Michael has coauthored several teaching resources available at the Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology - Online. In addition, he recently contributed a chapter with Linda on incorporating diversity into research methods for Best Practices for Teaching Statistics and Research Methods in the Behavioral Sciences. Michael has also authored articles on mass violence, hate groups, and interpersonal aggression.

Linda M. Woolf is Professor of Experimental and Peace Psychology at Webster University. Linda is the recipient of several teaching awards including the 1988 Early Career Award from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (Division 2, APA), Emerson Electric Excellence in Teaching Award (1990, 2000), and William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching (2000). She has authored numerous curriculum resources, book chapters, and journal articles concerning international psychology, peace psychology, mass violence, human rights, and research methods. Linda is Past-President of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence (Division 48, APA) and former Secretary and Newsletter Editor for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology.


Table of Contents

Series EditorsÆ Preface
Preface
Part I Course Preparation
1 Teaching Statistics: A Beginning
So Why Teach Statistics?
Historical Pedagogical Controversies
Who should teach statistics?
Statistics labs and related technology
Content of statistics courses
Statistics in Relation to the Discipline
Sequence of the Class and Topics
Introducing Research Methods within the Context of Statistics
Student Populations
Mathematical ability
Cognitive ability and learning styles
Self-efficacy and motivation
Gender
Helping Your Students Survive Statistics
Conclusion
2 Nuts and Bolts of Teaching Statistics
Syllabus Construction
Textbook Selection
Conceptual orientation
Level of difficulty
Chapter topics and organization
Core formulas and vocabulary
Type of data sets/quality of the exercises
Traditional Versus Electronic Textbooks
Supplemental Materials
Study guides
Companion Web sites
Computer tutorials
Electronic Discussion Boards
Multimedia Tools
Presentation technology
Interactive applications: Java applets, Flash, Shockwave, and HTML
Multimedia simulation programs
Conclusion
Part II Theoretical and Pedagogical Concerns
3 Educational Reform in Statistics
Educational Reform
Statistically Educated Students
Statistical Literacy
Knowledge elements
Dispositional elements
Statistical Thinking
Statistical Reasoning
Misconceptions Impacting the Development of Literacy, Thinking, and Reasoning
Final Thoughts on Statistical Literacy, Thinking, and Reasoning
Assessment
What is the role of assessment?
What is the role of authentic assessment?
Assessment and learning outcomes or goals
Conclusion
4 In the Classroom
Conceptual Learning, Active Learning, and Real Data
Conceptual learning versus rote memorization
Active learning
Real data
Instructional Techniques
Lecture
The use of questions
Practice problems and examples
Journal assignments
Activities and demonstrations
Writing assignments
Concept maps
Cooperative learning
Projects
Assessment
Principles of effective assessment
Mastery learning
Confronting Fear and Anxiety
Conclusion
Part III Teaching Specific Statistical Concepts
5 Descriptive Statistics and Bivariate Distributions
Graphing Data
The use of graphs in science
Elements of good design
Human graphical perception
Available graphing methods
Software design
Normal Distribution
Measures of Central Tendency
Measures of Variability
Correlation
Simple Linear Regression
Computer Applications
Conclusion
6 Teaching Hypothesis Testing
Samples, Sampling Distributions, and the Central Limit Theorem
Confidence Intervals
Introduction to Null Hypothesis Testing
Additional Introduction to Hypothesis Testing Concepts
Power
Effect sizes
Type I and Type II errors
Analysis of Variance
Introduction to ANOVA
Violating ANOVA assumptions
Factorial ANOVA
General linear model
The Debate Surrounding Null Hypothesis Significance Testing
Nonparametric Statistics
Computer Applications
Conclusion
Part IV Advanced Topics and Approaches
7 Data Analysis in Statistical Education
Teaching with Statistical Software Tools
Data Analysis Packages
SPSS
Microsoft Excel
Other commercial data analysis programs
Comparing data analysis programs
Data Analysis Software Textbooks
Using Data Sets in the Classroom
Artificial data sets for the classroom
Reality-based data sets
Finding appropriate reality-based data sets
Drawbacks to using real data sets
Conclusion
8 Endings and Beginnings
Multivariate Statistics
Multiple regression
Logistic regression
Additional multivariate techniques
Special Topics
Ethics
Diversity
Online Statistical Education
Finishing up Any Statistics Course
Final Thoughts
References
Index