This paper is from Session 3H: Distributions to spatial statistics: New approaches to teaching statistic
which comes under Topic 3: Statistics education at the post-secondary level
Paper 3H2 (Monday 9th, 16:00-17:30)
Learning through Induced Errors: A Garden-path Approach to Introductory Statistics
Presenter
- John Blake (University of Aizu, Japan)
Abstract
A garden-path teaching approach was adopted with postgraduate students. Participants were presented with exemplars from which rules were induced and then applied to different contexts. Scenarios to which application of the rule would result in a mistake were selected. The misapplication resulted in overgeneralization errors. Having been lulled into a false sense of security and then deceived, teachable moments are created in which participants are able to learn from their mistakes. Participants are hypothesized to focus more carefully on the features of and exceptions to the rule in order to avoid falling into a similar trap.