Statistics Teaching Practice at Czech Universities with Emphasis on Statistical Software
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2021.140405Keywords:
statistical courses, statistical software, student´s demands, teaching statistics, university studentAbstract
This paper aims to reveal the beliefs of students and fresh university graduates about teaching statistics during their university studies with focus on using statistical software. The objective is to detect the approach of faculties to statistics education and to find out which didactic materials and teaching methods are mainly used. Students’ opinions are captured by means of a questionnaire survey and analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show the increasing importance of quantitative research and the necessity of improving statistical thinking. Unfortunately, the teaching methods used in various statistical courses are outdated and unattractive for most students. They call for an active and modern approach. Teaching statistics with the statistical software support seems to be the right way to make statistics accessible to students. The recommendation is to take students’ notions into account when preparing statistical courses.
References
Aberson, C. L., Berger, D. E., Healy, M. R. and Romero, V. L. (2002) ‘An Interactive Tutorial for Teaching Statistical Power’, Journal of Statistics Education, Vol . 10, No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691898.2002.11910682
Billig, S. H. and Waterman, A. S. (ed.) (2014) Studying service-learning: Innovations in education research methodology, New York, NY: Routledge.
Chew, S. L. (2007) ‘Designing effective examples and problems for teaching statistics’, in Dunn, D. S., Smith, R. A. and Beins, B. (ed.) Best practices for teaching statistics and research methods in the behavioral sciences, pp. 73-91, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Cobb, G. (1992) ‘Teaching statistics’, in Steen L. A. (ed.) Heeding the call for change: Suggestions for curricular action, Vol. 22, pp. 3–43, Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America.
Cobb, G. W. (2007) ‘The introductory statistics course: A Ptolemaic curriculum?’, Technology innovations in statistics education, Vol. 1, No. 1. https://doi.org/10.5070/T511000028
Curtin, R., Presser, S., and Singer, E. (2000) ‘The effects of response rate changes on the index of consumer sentiment’, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 413–428. https://doi.org/10.1086/318638
Davidson, H., Jabbari, Y., Patton, H., O’Hagan, F., Peters, K., and Cribbie, R. (2019) ‘Statistical Software Use in Canadian University Courses: Current Trends and Future Directions’, Teaching of Psychology, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 246–250. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628319853940
De Leeuw, E. D. and Hox, J. J. (2008) ‘Self-administered questionnaires: mail surveys and other applications’, in De Leeuw, E. D., Hox, J. J. and Dillman, D. (ed.) International handbook of survey methodology, pp. 239–263, New York, NY: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203843123
Dempster, M. and McCorry, N. K. (2009) ‘The Role of Previous Experience and Attitudes Toward Statistics in Statistics Assessment Outcomes among Undergraduate Psychology Students’, Journal of Statistics Education, Vol. 17, No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691898.2009.11889515
Erlingsson, Ch. and Rysiewicz, P. (2017) ‘A hands-on guide to doing content analysis’, African Journal of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp. 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2017.08.001
Fajčíková, A. and Fejfarová, M. (2019) ‘Evaluation of the Quality of Teaching from the Perspective of University Students’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 34–40. https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2019.120201
Fullan, M. G. and Stiegelbauer, S. (1991) The New Meaning of Educational Change, New York: Teachers College Press.
Gould, R. (2010) ‘Statistics and the modern student’, International Statistical Review, Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 297–315. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-5823.2010.00117.x
Griffith, J. D., Adams, L. T., Gu, L. L., Hart, C. L. and Nichols-Whitehead, P. (2012) ‘Students’ attitudes toward statistics across the disciplines: a mixed-methods approach’, Statistics Education Research Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 45–56. https://doi.org/10.52041/serj.v11i2.328
Harris, C. M., Mazoué, J. G., Hamdan, H., and Casiple, A. R. (2007) ‘Designing an online introductory statistics course’, in Dunn, D. S., Smith, R. A. and Beins, B. (ed.) Best practices for teaching statistics and research methods in the behavioral sciences, pp. 93–108. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hendl, J. (2005) Kvalitativní výzkum: základní metody a aplikace [Qualitative Research. Basic Methods and Applications], Prague: Portál.
Hindls, R., and Hronová, S. (2005) ‘Jak výuka odrazuje nestatistiky od statistiky’ [How teaching discourages non-statisticians from statistics], Statistika, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 168–172.
Holmes, P. (2003) ‘50 Years of Statistics Teaching in English Schools: Some Milestones’, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series D (The Statistician), Vol. 52, No. 4, pp. 439–463. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1467-9884.2003.372_1.x
Hsu, M. K., Wang, S. W. and Chiu, K. K. (2009) ‘Computer attitude, statistics anxiety and self-efficacy on statistical software adoption behavior: An empirical study of online MBA learners’, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 412–420. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2008.10.003
Huynh, M. and Baglin, J. (2017) ‘Teaching statistics through data investigations in Australian secondary schools: An island-based pilot project’, International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 49–63.
Hybšová, A. (2017) Statistická gramotnost studentů učitelství přírodopisu/biologie v České republice [Biology pre-service teacher’s statistical literacy in the Czech republic], [PhD thesis], Prague: PedF UK.
Justice, N., Zieffler, A., and Garfield, J. (2017) ‘Statistics Graduate Teaching Assistants’beliefs, Practices And Preparation For Teaching Introductory Statistics’, Statistics Education Research Journal, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 294–319.
Kurniawan, D. A., Astalini, A., Darmaji, D., and Melsayanti, R. (2019) ‘Students’ Attitude towards Natural Sciences’, International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 455–460. http://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v8i3.16395
Law, K. M. Y., Lee, V. C. S. and Yu, Y. T. (2010) ‘Learning motivation in e-learning facilitated computer programming courses’, Computers & Education, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 218–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.01.007
Lee, R. and Fielding, N. (2004) ‘Tools for Qualitative Data Analysis’, in Hardy, M. and Bryman, A. (ed.) Handbook of Data Analysis, London: Sage, pp. 529–546. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781848608184.n23
Lee, H. S. and Hollebrands, K. (2008) ‘Preparing to teach mathematics with technology: An integrated approach to developing technological pedagogical content knowledge’, Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, Vol. 8, No. 4., pp. 326–341.
Lee, H. S. and Hollebrands, K. F. (2011) ‘Characterizing and developing teachers’ knowledge for teaching statistics’, in Batanero, C., Burrill, G. and Reading, Ch. (ed.) Teaching statistics in school mathematics-Challenges for teaching and teacher education: A joint ICMI/IASE study, Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 359–369. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1131-0
Martin, N., Hughes, J. and Fugelsang, J. (2017) ‘The roles of experience, gender, and individual differences in statistical reasoning’, Statistics Education Research Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 454–475.
Mazouchová, A., Jedličková, T. and Hlaváčová, L. (2020) ‘Using statistical software at Czech universities’, Proceedings of the 17th International Conference Efficiency and Responsibility in Education (ERIE 2020). Prague, pp.181–188.
Moore, D. L., and Tarnai, J. (2002) ‘Evaluating nonresponse error in mail surveys’, in Groves, R. M., Dillman, D. A., Eltinge, J. L., and Little, R. J. A. (ed.) Survey Nonresponse, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 197–211.
Mustafa, R. Y. (1996) ‘The challenge of teaching statistics to non-specialists’, Journal of statistics education, Vol. 4, No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1080/10691898.1996.11910504
Pfannkuch, M. and Ben-Zvi, D. (2011) ‘Developing teachers’ statistical thinking’, in Batanero, C., Burrill, G. and Reading, Ch. (ed.) Teaching statistics in school mathematics-Challenges for teaching and teacher education: A joint ICMI/IASE study, Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 323–333. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1131-0_31
Poláčková, J. and Jindrová, A. (2010) ‘Innovative Approach to Education and Teaching of Statistics’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 14–27.
Pratt, D., Davies, N., and Connor, D. (2011) ‘The role of technology in teaching and learning statistics’, in Batanero, C., Burrill, G. and Reading, Ch. (ed.) Teaching statistics in school mathematics-Challenges for teaching and teacher education: A joint ICMI/IASE study, Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 97–107. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1131-0_13
Ralston, K., MacInnes, J., Crow, G., and Gayle, V. J. (2016) We need to talk about statistical anxiety: A review of the evidence around statistical anxiety in the context of quantitative methods pedagogy, London: NCRM.
Şahin Ş., Ökmen B. and Kılıç A. (2020) ‘Effects of Teaching the Learning Psychology Course in Different Ways on the Student’s Success and Attitudes’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 113–129. http://dx.doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2020.130302
Singer, E., van Hoewyk, J., & Maher, M. P. (2000) ‘Experiments with incentives in telephone surveys’, Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 2, pp. 171–188. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/317761
Skalská, H. (2019) ‘Výuka statistiky pro informatiku a management v éře datové vědy’ [Statistics education for informatics and management in the era of data science], Informační bulletin České statistické společnosti. Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 1–9.
Steinberger, P. (2020) ‘Assessing the Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale as applied to prospective teachers in an Israeli Teacher-Training College’, Studies in Educational -Evaluation, Vol. 64, 100829. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2019.100829
Stejskalová I., Komárková L., Bednářová M. and Štrach P. (2019) ‘Student Adoption of a Non-Traditional Teaching Method in Accounting: How Previous Experience Impedes Willingness to Change’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 1–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2019.120101
Strauss, A. L. and Corbin, J. (1999) Základy kvalitativního výzkumu: postupy a techniky metody zakotvené teorie [Basics of Qualitative Research. Techniques a Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory], Brno: Sdružení Podané ruce.
Švaříček, R. and Šeďová, K. (2007) Kvalitativní výzkum v pedagogických vědách [Qualitative research in pedagogical sciences], Prague: Portál.
Velleman, P. F., and Moore, D. S. (1996) ‘Multimedia for teaching statistics: Promises and pitfalls’, The American Statistician, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 217–225. https://doi.org/10.2307/2684658
Widenská, E. (2014) ‘Efficiency of Practicing with Materials Using ICT and Paper Ones in Mathematics’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 37–43. https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2014.070203
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Aneta Mazouchová, Tereza Jedličková, Lucie Hlaváčová
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors declare with this manuscript intended for publication to ERIES Journal that:
- all co-authors agree with the publication of the manuscript even after amendments arising from peer review;
- all co-authors agree with the posting of the full text of this work on the web page of ERIES Journal and to the inclusion of references in databases accessible on the internet;
- no results of other researchers were used in the submitted manuscript without their consent, proper citation, or acknowledgement of their cooperation or material provided;
- the results (or any part of them) used in the manuscript have not been sent for publication to any other journal nor have they already been published (or if so, that the relevant works are cited in this manuscript);
- submission of the manuscript for publication was completed in accordance with the publishing regulations pertaining to place of work;
- experiments performed comply with current laws and written consent of the Scientific Ethics Committee / National Animal Care Authority (as is mentioned in the manuscript submitted);
- grant holders confirm that they have been informed of the submitted manuscript and they agree to its publication.
Authors retain copyright and grant ERIES Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the published work with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. Moreover, authors are able to post the published work in an institutional repository with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. In addition, authors are permitted and encouraged to post the published work online (e.g. institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.