WRITING TO LEARN STATISTICS IN AN ADVANCED PLACEMENT STATISTICS COURSE

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Northrup, C. (2012). WRITING TO LEARN STATISTICS IN AN ADVANCED PLACEMENT STATISTICS COURSE. Unc Charlotte Electronic Theses And Dissertations.
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Abstract

This study investigated the use of writing in a statistics classroom to learn if writing provided a rich description of problem-solving processes of students as they solved problems. Through analysis of 329 written samples provided by students, it was determined that writing provided a rich description of problem-solving processes and enabled teachers to find student mistakes easier. Requiring students to write in a statistics course provided a window into the problem-solving abilities of students. The researcher also concluded that he was better able to help students fix errors and misunderstandings since writing made them easier to find. This study also investigated if there any differences when analyzing written samples of students, using ratings from a rubric, for problem-solving processes as they solve problems. A Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) procedure was used and found one statistically, significant difference between the problem-solving process of conceptual understanding and that of problem-solving ability, t (1643) = -9.231, p < .001. This suggested that students received a significantly lower score for conceptual understanding compared to problem-solving ability when the researcher analyzed their work using a rubric designed by Pugalee (2005).

Details
Author

Northrup, Christian

Title

WRITING TO LEARN STATISTICS IN AN ADVANCED PLACEMENT STATISTICS COURSE

Physical Description

1 online resource (140 pages) : PDF

Date

2012

Degree Granting Institution

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Abstract

This study investigated the use of writing in a statistics classroom to learn if writing provided a rich description of problem-solving processes of students as they solved problems. Through analysis of 329 written samples provided by students, it was determined that writing provided a rich description of problem-solving processes and enabled teachers to find student mistakes easier. Requiring students to write in a statistics course provided a window into the problem-solving abilities of students. The researcher also concluded that he was better able to help students fix errors and misunderstandings since writing made them easier to find. This study also investigated if there any differences when analyzing written samples of students, using ratings from a rubric, for problem-solving processes as they solve problems. A Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) procedure was used and found one statistically, significant difference between the problem-solving process of conceptual understanding and that of problem-solving ability, t (1643) = -9.231, p < .001. This suggested that students received a significantly lower score for conceptual understanding compared to problem-solving ability when the researcher analyzed their work using a rubric designed by Pugalee (2005).

Genre

doctoral dissertations

Subjects--Topics

Mathematics--Study and teaching
Education
Statistics

Degree

Ph.D.

Keywords

Mathematics Education
Statistics Education
Writing in Mathematics
Writing in Statistics

Subject Area

Curriculum & Instruction

Advisor(s)

Pugalee, David

Committee Members

Wang, Chuang
Cifarelli, Victor
Polly, Andrew
Davis, Boyd

Degree Note

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2012.

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Rights Holder Information

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Identifier

Northrup_uncc_0694D_10342

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:234