This paper is from Session 9C: Using R for effective teaching of Statistics
which comes under Topic 9: Technology and multimedia in statistics education
Paper 9C2 (Tuesday 10th, 14:00-15:30)
Teaching with R – a curse or a blessing?
Presenter
- Bruno de Sousa (University of Coimbra, CINEICC, Portugal)
Co-author
- Dulce Gomes (University of Évora, CIMA/UE, Portugal)
Abstract
Although the advantages of R are well-known (free, open source, constantly updated by experts), it is not the first choice among college students, especially those not majoring in mathematics or statistics. A problem that appears when teaching R is that, given the great potential of the software, the temptation is to focus immediately on the more advanced analysis, which adds frustration for beginners learning R. Our online module will start with basic visualizations and summaries of data, followed by how mathematical functions can be used to model data, and concluding with some inferential statistics such as linear regression. This approach will not only help R beginners, but can also be used by school teachers in a global plan to bring R to the youngest learners.