Statistical Computation Using Student Collaborative Work

• Activity Number: 65
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Sunday, August 9, 2015 : 4:00 PM to 5:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): John D. Emerson*
• Companies: Middlebury College
• Keywords: R ; statistical computation ; student collaboration ; team projects ; course projects ; undergraduate education

Abstract

Undergraduate statistics courses, even some courses at the beginning level, have turned to R for their computational needs. The open-source availability of R, and its strengths for replicable statistical research and analysis, bring to students important advantages for their future work. The adoption of RStudio, an IDE for R, and of student-friendly R packages like Mosaic, help to make the R environment a realistic choice for students taking their first few statistics courses. Nonetheless, using R is not without challenges for many students who lack programming experience. The adoption of strategies based on student collaboration can aid in addressing these challenges. This paper outlines experiences at a liberal arts college in using student collaboration, including team projects, to strengthen students' facility with statistical computation. These experiences may also turn challenges that can at first intimidate students into rewarding and fun learning experiences that support deeper conceptual understanding.