Active
Research from cognitive psychology demonstrates
that active learning leads to far better understanding than passive
consumption of information. Listening to lectures, watching educational
videotapes, and reading textbooks can all too easily become passive,
"lean-back" learning. Seeing Statistics actively involves the student on
each page to promote active, "lean-forward" learning. Rather than
watching video demonstrations, students interact directly with the
graphics to provide their own demonstrations, which they
control.
Lectures are sometimes magical events whereby the teacher's notes are transferred
to the students' notebooks without going through anyone's head.
That can't
happen with Seeing Statistics.
The student controls
the pace. For example, there are many probability simulations like the
one below. Click on the "New Dice Roll" button several times to see what
is happening. Then click the "10 at a Time" button to speed up the
process. Finally, click the "100 at a Time" button to see the distribution
approach its limit. And if the pace gets too quick, click again on the "New Dice Roll"
button to remind yourself what the simulation is about.
