This paper is from Session 3D: Statistics instructors’ use of technology for teaching statistics

which comes under Topic 3: Education and development of staff who teach statistics

Using bootstrap dynamic visualizations in teaching

Presenter

• Jocelyn Cumming (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Co-authors

• Christine Miller (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
• Maxine Pfannkuch (University of Auckland, New Zealand)

Abstract

The increasing availability of technology means that computationally intensive methods such as bootstrapping are now accessible to students. At the university level, where introductory classes are large (about 450 students per class), we introduce students to the idea of a confidence interval using the bootstrap method before they meet the traditional approach later in the course. In this paper we describe our teaching approach using the Visual Inference Tools (VIT) software, which was designed to enhance introductory statistics students’ conceptual understanding of bootstrap confidence interval construction. Using data from research we present some of the issues that arose in students’ reasoning processes. The implications of this initiative to improve how statistics is taught and to use technology in a way that improves students’ understanding will be discussed.