Experiential Learning in Statistics through the Computer

"Statistics in the classroom is not a spectator sport. The participants must participate – and therein lies the problem. Almost any classroom example of the use and computation of any statistical concept regardless of the small size of the data set and the small numbers making up the data set soon becomes a very large number of very large numbers. The amount of computational tedium associated with student solution of assignments often becomes overwhelming, not challenging. The mathematical techniques are elementary. Their application is boring at best to the accomplished student and mystifying to the unaccomplished. The end result is that, except in rare instances, we fail to reach even a majority of students. In a recent vernacular: we not only fail to turn them on, we turn them off. Any salesman knows that he makes progress towards a sale if he can get the prospect to “feel the goods.” The prospect must DO something. Much of what a teacher does is to sell an idea. Some are relatively easy to sell. Some are difficult. The difference is often related to the amount of willing classroom participation and how engaging the outside assignments are. Some subjects lend themselves quite readily to the “gentlemen’s debate.” Statistics does not. Nor are the usual arithmetic type problems engaging. So we must entice the student into DOING something that will be engaging and more importantly, challenging. We must reduce the tedium of the arithmetic and make the assignments timely and meaningful. The computer can offer a powerful assist in reaching these ends.