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

该项目的目标是“调查TinkerPlots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TinkerPlots作为帮助他们可视化和理解关键统计概念的工具，增加成功完成统计入门课程的学生人数。第二个目标是提高对统计的信心和理解，这将激励学生在统计或数据驱动的STEM领域进行额外的培训。PI假设，被诊断为学习障碍的学生在中学后统计学入门课程的课堂上获得了TinkerPlots的使用指导，将在标准统计评估中获得更好的学习成绩，对关键统计概念有更深入的理解，并更有可能在统计相关领域接受额外的培训。这是一个示范项目；示范项目的目的是进行概念验证研究，这些研究将导致全面的研究项目，旨在增加有关残疾学生参与STEM后教育和取得成功的知识基础。这些目标正在通过以下目标来实现：将TinkerPlots整合到Landmark College的统计学入门课程中。在Landmark college进行一项试点研究，以测试课程对被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，以测试课程对更典型的学生群体的有效性。研究TinkerPlots对有学习障碍的学生的可用性和可及性。5. 广泛传播有关试点研究方法和结果的信息。第一个试点研究解决了这样一个问题：TinkerPlots作为帮助患有LD的学生掌握统计概念的工具有多有效？每学期至少从两个实验教室和两个控制教室（使用传统课程）收集数据，为期两个学期和课间。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。这些措施在基线和疗程后间隔进行。对实验组和对照组进行方差分析比较。学院的记录被用来跟踪那些完成实验和控制课程的学生，以确定随后参加更高级的统计学课程或STEM课程。在项目的第二年，这项研究在邻近的霍利奥克社区学院进行了复制，那里的人口不像地标学院那样关注有学习障碍的学生。霍利奥克的复制包括其他典型的代表性不足的群体，包括女性、少数民族学生、英语学习者和社会经济背景较低的学生。这个项目被认为是一个试点项目，旨在收集两所社区学院TinkerPlots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课程成绩的影响，为知识库做出贡献。这项拟议工作的结果有可能为一项更大的研究提供信息，这将有助于rde资助的STEM残疾学生联盟和STEM残疾个人的其他高等教育项目提供实践。

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.