Submitting Campus
Worldwide
Department
STEM Education
Document Type
Dissertation
Publication/Presentation Date
8-2012
Abstract/Description
Research in undergraduate statistics education often centers on the introductory course required for a large percentage of college students. While acknowledging the diverse setting, audience, and purpose of introductory courses, existing research assumes that courses offered by different disciplines share the same goals and teaching practices. The purpose of this study is to examine the objectives for student outcomes and pedagogical delivery of introductory statistics courses in various academic departments to provide explicit evidence for this assumption. The American Statistical Association’s Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) are meant to apply to all introductory courses. The College Report’s Goals for Students and Recommendations for Teaching are used as a framework for a qualitative study of the way in which introductory courses in various settings deliver instruction. Four descriptive case studies are presented through a pattern-matching analysis followed by a cross-case analysis. All four cases demonstrate many of the goals and teaching strategies recommended by GAISE, even though none of the professors had prior knowledge of the guidelines. The goal that students be able to critique published statistics resonated with participating instructors but was barely evident in any of the courses. The recommendation to use real data had the least evidence in all cases. Emphasis on statistical literacy and thinking as well as stress on conceptual understanding aligned with GAISE in every case. This study supports the GAISE assumption that its goals for students and recommendations for teaching are broad enough to apply to introductory courses in a variety of disciplines.
Publication Title
The GAISE College Report: The American Statistical Association Meets Sound Pedagogy in Central Virginia
Publisher
ProQuest
Scholarly Commons Citation
Wood, B. (2012). The GAISE College Report: The American Statistical Association Meets Sound Pedagogy in Central Virginia. The GAISE College Report: The American Statistical Association Meets Sound Pedagogy in Central Virginia, (). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/publication/1084
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Higher Education Commons, Statistics and Probability Commons
Additional Information
A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Curry School of Education University of Virginia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Beverly L. Wood M.S., University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 2003 B.S., University of Tampa, 1988 August 2012.