Integrating Real-Life Data Analysis in Teaching Descriptive Statistics: A Constructivist Approach

Abstract

This article looks at a process of integrating real-life data investigation in a course on descriptive statistics. Referring to constructivist perspectives, this article suggests a look at the potential of inculcating alternative teaching methods that encourage students to take a more active role in their own learning and participate in the process of assessing what they have learned. The article illustrates how this teaching method enabled students to realize that imparting meaning to sets of data is a complex activity which involves conceptual flexibility, integration of all the procedures that one has learned, and creative reasoning.

What's Brewing? A Statistics Education Discovery Project

“…Having students collect their own data allowed students to see firsthand how difficult it could be to obtain good data and how important it is for the data to be inspected and cleaned before analyses are undertaken, a point that usually receives little time and attention in statistics courses. The benefits we found in using real-world data within a constructivist perspective (Smith 1998;Libman 2010;Neumann, Hood and Neumann 2013;Thompson 2013) are in line with the recommendations of other researchers (Singer and Willett 1990;Garfield and Ben-Zvi 2008;Neumann, Hood, and Neumann 2013;Sole 2016a) who advocate that students should not merely be passive recipients of knowledge, but rather, active participants, who are fully engaged in the process from start to finish.…”

“…The full process of posing researchable questions, collecting and cleaning data, selecting and applying appropriate statistical tools to answer those questions, and interpreting results within the context of the problem are all key elements of statistical thinking. In alignment with the tenets of constructivism, which stress giving students the opportunity to have a meaningful learning experience by raising questions, seeking patterns, and being actively engaged (Smith 1998;Twomey Fosnot 2005;Libman 2010;Neumann, Hood, and Neumann 2013;Thompson 2013), this article describes a successfully implemented project that uses real data (Neumann, Hood, and Neumann 2013;Sole 2016a) that students themselves collect (Smith 1998) to answer a question that is meaningful to them. It also supports their construction of knowledge (Neumann, Hood, and Neumann 2013) by having them analyze and report their findings (Fillebrown 1994) in a way that models how research is done in practice (Libman 2010).…”

The Development of Contextual Science Module for Middle School with Concept Mapping

“…One of the science lessons that links their materials to the students' real situation in their daily lives and in the communities in which they will work and will live life is contextual learning. Contextual learning relates to students' real-world situations, and encourages students to make connections between their knowledge and application in their daily lives (Libman, 2010). This is supported by research asfiah (2013) shows that module developed the module contextual fit for use by students and teachers in school.…”

An Example of a Statistics Course in a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program

“…25 Based on the idea that working with real data develops students' interests and practical perspectives, this method of teaching has been found to support the growth of statistical reasoning skills and the interpretation of real phenomena, with students gaining an objective world view. 26 In concert with using and interpreting realworld data, another method-project learning-further enhances classroom experiences.…”