PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS-A COMPUTER LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND CURRICULUM

PROBABLISTIC AND STATISTICAL CONCEPTS PLAY AN EVER-INVREASING ROLE IN OUR INFORMATION DRIVEN SOCIETY. THE NEED FOR INCLUDING PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS COURSES HAS BEEN WIDELY RECOGNIZED, YET BECAUSE OF CURRICULAR GRIDLOCK, LITTLE TEACHING OF THIS SUBJECT MATTER OCCURS. SCHOOLS WAIT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH QUALITY COURSE MATERIALS; AUTHORS, SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS, AND PUBLISHERS WAIT FOR THE EXISTENCE OF COURSES. RESEARCHERS PROPOSE TO BREAK THIS GRIDLOCK BY DEVELOPING NEW COURSE MATERIALS AND STATE-OF-THE-ART COMPUTER SOFTWARE BASED ON THE BEST CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF STUDENTS' CONCEPTIONS OF PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS. THE SOFTWARE, PROVISIONALLY NAMED STOCHASTICSLAB, IS A COMPUTER LEARNING ENVIRONMENT THAT INTEGRATES SIMULATION, DATA GATHERING, DATA DISPLAY, EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS, AND STATISTICAL INFERENCING CAPABILITIES. EMPHASIS IS ON ILLUMINATING THE INNER WORKINGS OF STATISTICAL AND PROBABILISTIC PROCESSES. THE ENVIRONMENT PROMOTES INVESTIGATION AND EXPLORATION BY ALLOWING OBJECTS SUCH AS SPINNERS, GRAPHS, AND STATISTICAL MEASUREMENT TOOLS TO BE LINKED TOGETHER BY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS TO CREATE DYNAMIC MICRO WORLDS. UNITS OF TEACHING MATERIALS USE STOCHASTICSLAB AS AN EXPERIENTIAL FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING. THESE UNITS ARE USED IN A SEMESTER-LONG COURSE OR INTEGRATED INTO OTHER COURSES IN THE HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM.