Cooperative learning and statistical instruction

ABSTRACTMSc THESISCOOPERATIVE LEARNING AND STATISTICAL INSTRUCTIONJale G RMENDEPARTMENT OF STATISTICSINSTITUTE OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCESUNIVERSITY OF ÇUKUROVASupervisor : Prof. Dr. Fikri AKDEN ZYear : 2006, Pages : 178Jury : Prof. Dr. Fikri AKDEN ZProf. Dr. Hamza EROLAssist.Prof. Dr. Kamuran TARIMThis thesis describes the use of cooperative learning activities in teachingand learning statistics to improve traditional lectures. Different ways of usingcooperative learning activities are described along with reasons for implementingthis type of instructional method. Relative effects of cooperative vs. lecture methodsof instruction are examined. Representative active learning materials that have beenused over the last several years are presented. In order to determine the impact ofreform efforts on the teaching of statistics, the results of a survey of teachers of thefirst statistics course is illustrated. This study also presents the Vaughan?sexperiences with providing each student in a large, multi-section class with a uniquedataset for homework and in-class exercises throughout the semester. Manytextbooks teach a rule of thumb stating that the mean is right of the median underright skew, and left of the median under left skew. This rule fails with surprisingfrequency. It can fail in multimodal distributions, or in distributions where one tail islong but the other is heavy.Key Words: Cooperative learning, statistics instruction, conceptual andactive learning, striking demonstrations, traditional and non-traditional teaching.