Students' attitudes toward statistics: implications for the future

College Student Journal, Sept, 2004 by Jamie D. Mills

The emergence of a reform movement in statistics education has influenced the teaching and learning of statistics over the past few decades. The teaching of statistics concepts and courses in elementary and secondary education as well as the implementation of technology into the statistics classroom are important changes involved in this movement. Considering the changes in instruction and learning over the past few years, the purpose of this paper was to describe the attitudes of students enrolled in a reformed course. Although previous research has suggested that student attitudes toward statistics have been negative, the overall results suggested that students in introductory statistics courses today have more positive attitudes toward statistics than negative. Important variables related to statistics achievement such as mathematics ability, statistics experience, student confidence, and gender continue to influence student attitudes. Implications from the findings of this study might suggest that the collaborative effort from researchers and teachers to improve the teaching and learning of statistics over the past few years reveals optimistic results.

Introduction

The teaching and learning of statistics has impacted the curriculum in every level of education. The NCTM Principles and Standards (NCTM, 2000) includes a content standard that emphasizes statistical reasoning for Pre-K through grade 12 and as a result, many states now include and emphasize statistical thinking in their statewide curriculum guidelines. Student enrollments in AP statistics courses are increasing each year and there are many ASA-sponsored programs and workshops to support K-12 teachers and administrators (i.e., BAPS, Adopt-A-School). In postsecondary education, almost every student is required to take a statistics course, regardless of their major. The ability to develop statistical thinking and reasoning skills is fast-becoming an important objective.

Over the past few years, there has been a shift on how to teach statistics, to students of different ages as well as in a variety of different fields. In 1992, the American Statistical Association (ASA) and the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) formed a joint committee to :study the teaching of introductory statistics. The main recommendations were to emphasize statistical thinking, incorporate data and emphasize concepts using less theory and fewer 'recipes', and to foster active learning (Cobb, 1992). In more recent years, a movement to reform the teaching of statistics calls for researchers and teachers to focus on the synergy between content, pedagogy, and technology (Moore, 1997). Not only should students be active participants assigned with structured activities that focus on statistical concepts and ideas that are nonmathematical in nature, but content and pedagogy should be strongly influenced by technology (Moore, 1997).

Technology has changed statistics learning and instruction. According to Moore (1997), using technology in statistics instruction should help to automate many routine operations and as a result, facilitate conceptual learning. In addition, with the use and aid of technology, students can actively explore the meaning of statistical concepts through the use of computer simulation methods (CSMs). (Dambolena, 1986; Gordon & Gordon, 1989; Hesterberg, 1998; Kalsbeek, 1996; Kersten, 1983; Shibli, 1990). By using current computing technology, it is possible to supplement standard data analysis assignments by providing students with additional statistical experiences. Computer simulations are invaluable in this regard because abstract or hard to understand concepts can be illustrated visually using many standard programs (i.e., Excel, Minitab). This may enhance the learning experience, especially for students in introductory statistics courses.

Considering the changes in statistics learning and instruction, important questions related to student attitudes are of interest. Student attitudes about statistics are important because they may influence the learning process. In particular, student attitudes and beliefs about statistics can affect the extent to which students will develop useful statistical thinking skills, whether they will apply what they have learned outside of the classroom, and whether or not students will choose to enroll in further statistics courses (Gal, Ginsburg, & Schau, 1997). Negative student attitudes toward statistics may create a major obstacle for effective learning (Cashin & Elmore, 1997; Fullerton & Umphrey, 2001; Schutz, Drogsz, White, & Distefano, 1998; Waters, Matelli, Zakrajsek, & Popovich, 1988).

Many efforts have been made to investigate affective factors that affect a student's statistical performance. Much of the research involves surveys designed to quantify student attitudes (Statistics Attitude Survey (Roberts & Bilderback, 1980); Attitude Toward Statistics Scale (Wise, 1985); Statistics Attitude Scale (McCall, Belli, & Madjidi, 1990); Multifactorial Scale of Attitudes Toward Statistics (Auzmendi, 1991); Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (Schau, Dauphinee, & Del Vecchio, 1993) or characterize how anxiety influences performance (Revised Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (Plake & Parker, 1982); Statistical Anxiety Rating Scale (Cruise, Cash, & Bolton, 1985); Statistics Anxiety Inventory (Zeidner, 1991). According to Hopkins, Hopkins, and Glass (1996), previous research findings suggest that popular student attitudes toward statistics include anxiety, cynicism, fear, and contempt.