Our Toolbox is Overflowing: Towards a Framework for Mapping Technologies and Topics in Introductory Statistics

• Activity Number: 307
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education*
• Author(s): Ginger Rowell*+ and Patti Collings*+ and Ronnie West*+ and Christine Anderson-Cook*+ and Robert del Mas*+
• Affiliation(s): Middle Tennessee State University and Brigham Young University and University of South Carolina and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and University of Minnesota
• Keywords: Statistics education ; Technology ; Assessment

Abstract

The past fifteen years have been a period of great creativity and invention in statistics education. We have radically rethought our aims and have generated an impressive array of new tools for teaching and for doing statistics. Our toolbox overflows with reliable fine old tools and gleaming new power tools. The availability of new teaching technologies should influence the content of our courses, and the content of our courses should influence our choice of technologies. In this panel discussion, we will sketch a framework for matching topics and technologies. Among other issues, we will attempt to classify the available technologies (ranging from chalk and manipulatives to applets, analytical software, and conceptual software); to consider criteria for selecting a given technology to teach a given topic; to inquire into the characteristics of an effective teaching technology or tool; to ask how our tools can be used to promote conceptual understanding; to examine the role of these tools in teaching an on-line introductory statistics course; and to consider strategies that we can use to assess the impact of available technologies.