This paper is from Session 1F: The importance of attitudes in statistics education: sustaining learning processes and outcomes

which comes under Topic 1: Sustaining strengths and building capacity in statistics education

How do attitudes change from one stats course to the next?

Presenter

• Anne Michele Millar (Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada)

Co-author

• Bethany White (Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada)

Abstract

Are attitudes sustained across the term break? We usually measure attitudes at the beginning and end of a course. However, at the end of the course students are suffering from end of term stress and exam anxiety, and these may be reflected in their attitude scores. We would hope that positive attitudes are sustained, while negative attitudes improve during the break. Sustaining positive attitudes leads to sustained student engagement. We consider data for two introductory statistics courses taught over two semesters at a mid-size primarily undergraduate university.