Mathematics Education Research

In addition to the research on learning and understanding statistical ideas, several studies on methods of improving students' general mathematical competence have relevance for teaching statistics. Many of these studies appear in reviews by Romberg and Carpenter (1986) and Silver (1990) and help reinforce and extend the research on statistical learning. The relevant findings are summarized below:

• More time spent on developing understanding (e.g., discussing why an algorithm works, how skills are interrelated, and how one concept is distinguished form other) leads to increased student performance on problem solving tests.

• Use of small groups leads to better group productivity, improved attitudes, and sometimes, increased achievement.
• Having students read through worked-out examples may be more effective than having them work through many of the conventional exercises assigned as homework.

• Students learn more from working on open-ended problems than from goal-specific problems where there is one right answer.

• ``Writing to learn" mathematics activities appear to be helping students understand mathematics better.

• Research on particularly innovative programs emphasizing problem solving and higher order thinking indicates that students do better on these activities than do students in traditional programs, without suffering any loss on traditional tests.

All of these results may be relevant to learning specifically statistical ideas.