Implementing an Interactive Computer Laboratory to Support Discovery-Based Statistics Courses for Liberal Arts Students and Future Teachers

在该学院专攻数学的学生中，超过一半的人参加了三个教师准备项目之一。至关重要的是，数学系的课程要让这些学生为他们即将进入的课堂做好准备，无论是数学内容还是教学方法。有许多领域的数学可以通过技术辅助方法得到更有效的教学。尤其是统计学领域，计算机与教学策略相结合，允许学生通过动手探索活动构建自己的知识，可以极大地提高学生的学习能力。该项目资助了一个由20个站组成的计算机实验室，为至少8名教职员工提供了在统计学入门课程中使用新开发的实验室经验的手段。据估计，每年将有400-450名本科生受益。首先，新实验室提供了一个技术丰富的环境，教师可以在其中使用一种教学方法进行教学，这种教学方法既能增强所有学生的学习能力，又能为那些准备当老师的学生提供重要的教学方法。它还提供了另一种方法--个性化和互动式--这有助于减少社会科学、家政或食品和营养专业的许多全日制学生在统计学入门课程中的退学率和不及格率。此外，这对在继续教育处攻读本科学位课程的其他兼职学生以及攻读数理统计顺序的专业也有好处。最后，它可以改善所有这些学生为工作应用程序做准备。

More than half of the students concentrating in mathematics at the college are in one of three teacher-preparation programs. It is critical that the Mathematics Department curriculum prepare these students for the classrooms they will enter, in terms of both mathematics content and pedagogy. There are many areas of mathematics that are taught more effectively through technology-assisted approaches. Statistics especially is an area in which computers, coupled with teaching strategies that allow students to construct their own knowledge through hands-on, exploratory activities, can greatly enhance student learning. This project funds a 20-station computer laboratory that provides at least eight faculty members with a means to use newly developed laboratory experiences in introductory statistics courses. An estimated 400-450 undergraduate students can benefit each year. First and foremost, the new laboratory provides a technology-rich environment in which faculty can teach using a pedagogy that both enhances the learning of all students and models instructional methods important to those students preparing to be teachers. It also provides an alternative approach--individualized and interactive--which helps reduce withdrawal and failure rates in the introductory statistics course for the many full-time students majoring in social sciences, home economics, or food and nutrition. In addition, it can be of benefit to other part-time students pursuing undergraduate degree programs in the Continuing Education Division, as well as to majors taking the mathematical statistics sequence. Finally, it can improve the preparation of all these students for workplace applications.