Increasing Students' Motivation for, and Conceptual Integration in, Introductory Statistics

• In Event: 46.083 - Book Panel Discussion: Contributing Authors Discuss Challenges and Innovations in Teaching and Learning Educational Psychology

Abstract

Schraw’s chapter addresses standards and guidelines for increasing students’ motivation and conceptual integration in introductory statistics classes. Schraw and his coauthors review the core standards for promoting statistics achievement, as proposed by AERA and the American Psychological Association, and some of the main misconceptions that many students have about statistics. Schraw et al. focus on strategies for improving motivation, such as reducing anxiety through a structured curriculum and improving self-efficacy through coaching and peer collaboration. Of special importance, Schraw et al. discuss best practices in instructional progression in order to promote conceptual integration of core principles, such as the similarity among measures of variance (e.g., SD, SE, SEmean) and the ratio of between-group versus within-group variance that undergirds all statistical tests.

Author

• Gregory John Schraw, University of Nevada - Las Vegas