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

超过一半的学生集中在数学在学院是在三个教师准备计划之一。 这是至关重要的数学系课程准备这些学生的教室，他们将进入，在数学内容和教学法方面。 有许多数学领域通过技术辅助的方法更有效地教授。 特别是统计学是一个计算机领域，再加上教学策略，让学生通过动手，探索性活动构建自己的知识，可以大大提高学生的学习。 该项目为一个20个工作站的计算机实验室提供资金，为至少8名教员提供在统计学入门课程中使用新开发的实验室经验的手段。 估计每年有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，教师可以使用教学法进行教学，既提高了所有学生的学习，也为那些准备成为教师的学生提供了重要的教学方法。 它还提供了一种替代方法-个性化和互动式-这有助于减少社会科学、家政学或食品和营养学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，它可以有利于其他兼职学生在继续教育部攻读本科学位课程，以及采取数理统计序列的专业。 最后，它可以改善所有这些学生的工作场所应用程序的准备。

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.