Discovery Projects in Introductory Statistics

Abstract

The speakers will present an overview of their recently completed, NSF funded, research project in the area of statistics education. The main focus of our research was a study of the impact of highly student-centered discovery projects in statistics on students’ learning and disposition. This multi-year study included instructors at institutions around the United States, had both quantitative and qualitative components, and sought to better understand what factors might influence the effectiveness of these projects. We will describe the major objectives of our project; such as the materials we prepared, the workshop conducted for our pilot instructors, and other dissemination efforts of the speakers.