ABSTRACT
To assess students’ skills and attitudes associated with different approaches to teaching statistics, Mark Ware and Jeffrey Chastain from Creighton University examined classes in which students conducted arithmetic computations with or without computer-assisted statistical analysis. Pre-and postcourse measures consisted of statistical interpretation and selection skills and attitudes toward statistics and computers. Analyses of covariance indicated superior selection and interpretation skills among those who had taken statistics. Students in the computer-assisted statistical analysis group had significantly more favorable attitudes toward statistics than did those in the other groups. Teachers interested in improving students’ attitudes toward statistics without a loss of skills may want to try a computer-assisted approach.
