Investigating the Effectiveness of TinkerPlots in Helping Students with Learning Disabilities Understand Statistical Concepts

该项目的目标是调查TinkerPlot在帮助有学习障碍的学生理解统计概念方面的有效性，目的是通过使用TinkerPlot作为工具，帮助他们可视化和理解关键的统计概念，从而增加成功完成统计入门课程的学生数量。第二个目标是增加对统计学的信心和理解，这将激励学生在统计学或以数据为导向的STEM领域进行额外的培训。统计调查假设，在专上统计入门课程中，有机会在课室内使用小叮当的学生，在标准统计评估方面会有较佳的学业表现，对主要统计概念有更深入的理解，并且更有可能在与统计有关的领域接受额外训练。这是一个示范项目；示范项目的目的是进行概念验证研究，以产生全面的研究项目，旨在增加关于残疾学生参与和成功接受中学后STEM教育的知识库。这些目标正在通过以下目标实现：1.将TinkerPlats纳入Landmark学院的统计学入门课程。在地标学院进行一项试点研究，以测试该课程对诊断为学习障碍的学生的有效性。在霍利奥克社区学院进行一项试点研究，以测试该课程在更典型的学生群体中的有效性。为被诊断为学习障碍的学生调查TinkerPlot的可用性和可访问性。5.广泛传播有关方法和先导研究结果的资料。第一项先导研究针对的问题是：作为帮助被诊断为学习困难的学生掌握统计学概念的工具，TinkerPlot的效果如何？每学期至少从两个实验教室和两个对照教室(使用传统课程)收集数据，时间跨度为两学期和间歇期。因变量包括统计知识、统计能力和感知能力，以及对STEM相关课程和职业的兴趣。这些措施是在基线和课程结束后的时间间隔实施的。对试验组和控制组进行方差分析比较。该学院的记录被用来跟踪那些完成实验和控制课程的学生，以确定他们随后是否参加了更高级的统计课程或STEM课程。在该项目的第二年，这项研究在邻近的社区大学霍利奥克重复进行，那里的人口并不像兰德马克学院那样关注有学习障碍的学生。霍利约克的复制项目包括其他代表性较低的群体，包括女性、少数族裔学生、英语学习者和来自较低社会经济背景的学生。该项目被设想为一个试点项目，用于在两所社区大学收集TinkerPlot影响的初步数据。它有可能通过调查统计软件对中学后统计班级成绩的影响来为知识库作出贡献。这项拟议工作的结果有可能为一项更大规模的研究提供参考，这项研究将有助于提供由RDE资助的联盟在STEM中为残疾学生所采用的做法，以及为STEM中的残疾个人提供的其他中学后方案。

The goal of the project, "Investigating the effectiveness of TinkerPlots in helping students with learning disabilities understand statistical concepts", is to increase the number of students who successfully complete introductory statistics courses by using TinkerPlots as a tool to help them visualize and understand key statistical concepts. A secondary goal is to increase confidence in and understanding of statistics that will motivate students to pursue additional training in statistics or in a data-driven STEM field. The PI hypothesizes that students with diagnosed learning disabilities who have access to and instruction in the use of TinkerPlots within a classroom in a post-secondary introduction to statistics course will experience better academic performance on standard statistics assessments, exhibit a deeper understanding of key statistical concepts, and will be more likely to pursue additional training in a statistics related field. This is a demonstration project; the purpose of demonstration projects is to conduct proof-of-concept studies that will lead to full research projects aimed at increasing the knowledge base about the participation and success of students with disabilities in post-secondary STEM education.These goals are being addressed via the following objectives:1. Integrate TinkerPlots into Landmark College's introductory statistics curriculum.2. Conduct a pilot study to test the effectiveness of the curriculum for students with a diagnosed learning disability at Landmark College.3. Conduct a pilot study to test the effectiveness of the curriculum for a more typical population of students at Holyoke Community College.4. Investigate the usability and accessibility of TinkerPlots for students with a diagnosed learning disability. 5. Broadly disseminate information about the approach and results from the pilot study.The first pilot study addresses the question: How effective is TinkerPlots as a tool for helping students with diagnosed LD grasp statistical concepts? Data is being collected from at least two experimental and two control classrooms (using the traditional curriculum) per semester over two semesters and intersessions. Dependent variables include statistical knowledge, competence and perceived competence in statistics, and interest in STEM related courses and careers. These measures are administered at baseline and post-course intervals. ANOVA comparisons are conducted for both experimental and control groups. The college's records are used to follow those who complete the experimental and control courses to ascertain subsequent enrollment in more advanced statistics coursesor STEM courses. During the second year of the project, the study is replicated at a neighboring community college, Holyoke, where the population does not focus on students with learning disabilities, as does Landmark College. The replication at Holyoke includes other typically underrepresented groups including women, minority students, English language learners, and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.This project is conceived as a pilot project for gathering preliminary data on the impact of TinkerPlots at two community colleges. It has the potential to contribute to the knowledge base by investigating the impact of statistical software on achievement in post-secondary statistic classes. Results from this proposed work have the potential to inform a larger research study that would contribute to the delivery of practices employed by the RDE-funded Alliances for Students with Disabilities in STEM and other post-secondary programs for individuals with disabilities in STEM.