This paper introduces a web-based, interactive point pattern analysis "game" that allows users to generate quickly and repeatedly a point pattern on screen and immediately learn whether the pattern is statistically different from random. It uses two point pattern analysis methods: quadrat analysis (QA) and nearest neighbor analysis…

Psychology ranks fourth on the list of most common undergraduate majors and is increasing in popularity (McFarland, 2018). The most recent American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines for the undergraduate psychology major list scientific inquiry among its most important goals. In order to demonstrate literacy in psychological science, the…

Students from many different subject areas are required to study statistics as part of their qualification. The Open University developed a statistics module which could simultaneously be studied by students from a variety of different disciplines, by engaging them with topics which are of interest to everyone, namely money, education and health,…

To combat students' fear of statistics I employ my students at a fictional company, Stats Dairy, run by cows. Almost all examples used in the class notes, exercises, humour and exams use data "collected" from this company.

This article describes an interactive way to help students learn to evaluate central tendency measures using a fictional story. The use of humour and fictional dire consequences may increase student understanding and engagement while reducing anxiety.

This document sets out a novel teaching methodology as used in subjects with statistical content, traditionally regarded by students as "difficult". In a virtual learning environment, instructional techniques little used in mathematical courses were employed, such as the Jigsaw cooperative learning method, which had to be adapted to the…

In this conceptual paper, based on teaching and TA experience, seven suggestions are made for improving the statistics experience of students in social science courses. These include hiring non-mathematicians to teach the course; emphasize conceptual statistics rather than computational approaches; recognize that many, or ever most, social science…

Learning basic statistical concepts does not need to be tedious or dry; it can be fun and interesting through cooperative learning in the small-group activity of Statistics Poker. This article describes a teaching approach for reinforcing basic statistical concepts that can help students who have high anxiety and makes learning and reinforcing…

This article analyzes a social statistics class that engaged in self-grading. Students liked self-grading because they identified their own mistakes, it reinforced what they learned, and they received immediate feedback. Some students worried that others would cheat, but this assertion was not confirmed in the data and the possibility of cheating…

Statistics anxiety is hypothesized to be a closely related but a distinct construct from mathematics anxiety. However, many incorrectly conceive that statistics anxiety is the same construct as mathematics anxiety. Confusing statistics anxiety and mathematics anxiety is common among students as well as researchers. Frequent appearance of…

Describes a method used to reduce mathematics anxiety in college-level statistics classes. At the beginning of the course, students share their fears about statistics and receive a lecture on ways to cope with their anxieties. At the end of the course, students share feelings again and realize their increased mastery and attitude changes. (AM)

Discusses two interactive techniques for reducing student anxiety and increasing understanding of statistical concepts. Explains that in one method the students are the data when the class members complete one of two versions of an exercise. Describes the second method as one where students create the statistical application and data. (DK)

Outlines and discusses four unique and major challenges facing the undergraduate statistics instructor. These are motivating students to study material they think is uninteresting, handling mathematics anxiety, dealing with performance extremes, and making the learning memorable. Offers solutions for each challenge. (MJP)