Studying the Role of Simulation in Developing Students’ Statistical Reasoning

Much of the literature on the teaching and learning of statistics has identified statistical reasoning as an important outcome in an introductory course in statistics (e.g., Garfield, 2002; delMas, 2004.). Current recommendations (e.g., GAISE guidelines, see Franklin and Garfield, 2006) for curriculum and assessment in introductory statistics courses have also focused on the development of students’ statistical reasoning. As statistics educators adapt their courses to implement these recommendations, their curricula and assessments are changing to reflect this greater emphasis on conceptual understanding and statistical reasoning rather than computations and procedures. In particular, many of these changes involve using simulations in the classroom. This paper describes a teaching experiment that took place over a one semester introductory college statistics course, in which a series of simulation activities was implemented and the development of students’ statistical reasoning was examined in an effort to help evaluate the course and materials.