Resiliency of a Project-Based Statistics Curriculum in the Face of COVID-19 and Online Learning

• Activity Number: 442 - Contributed Poster Presentations: Section on Statistics and Data Science Education
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 10, 2022 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and Data Science Education
• Author(s): Robin Donatello* and Courtney Merrick and Lisa Dierker
• Companies: California State University, Chico and California State University, Chico and Wesleyan University
• Keywords: project-based; covid; online-learning; intro-stats; student-success

Abstract

The Passion Driven Statistics (PDS) model (Dierker '18) is a project-based curriculum for introductory statistics courses where students drive their own research using reproducible research techniques using a variety of statistical software languages. The PDS model shows positive impacts on students’ thinking like a scientist and personal gains in work related to research, skills, and attitudes. This work analyzes trends from Sp19 to Fa21 (48 schools, 2,288 students), in student experiences and gains during the switch to online learning due to the pandemic and into a mix of hybrid and in-person modes of instruction for Fa21. Preliminary results indicate the transition to online learning did not decrease the perceived impact the PDS curriculum had student skills and attitudes. While engagement with course material declined each term following Sp20, perception of how rewarding students considered the course remained consistent over time. Some groups such as first generation and underrepresented minority students reported greater perceived impact compared to their counterparts pre-covid, with no measurable decrease after the switch to online learning.