Evaluation of an Interactive Tutorial for Teaching the Central Limit Theorem

In this article, we present an evaluation of a Web-based, interactive tutorial used to present the sampling distribution of the mean. The tutorial allows students to draw samples and explore the shapes of sampling distributions for several sample sizes. To evaluate the effectiveness of the tutorial,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teaching of psychology 2000-10, Vol.27 (4), p.289-291
Main Authors: Aberson, Christopher L., Berger, Dale E., Healy, Michael R., Kyle, Diana J., Romero, Victoria L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Central Limit Theorem
Comparative Analysis
Computer Uses in Education
Educational Strategies
Higher Education
Internet
Lecture Method
Psychology
Sampling
Student Empowerment
Student Improvement
Students
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Summary:In this article, we present an evaluation of a Web-based, interactive tutorial used to present the sampling distribution of the mean. The tutorial allows students to draw samples and explore the shapes of sampling distributions for several sample sizes. To evaluate the effectiveness of the tutorial, 111 students enrolled in statistics or research methods courses used either the interactive tutorial or attended a lecture and a demonstration on the sampling distribution of the mean. Students in both groups improved from pretest to posttest and no statistically significant differences between improvement scores were found between groups. Additionally, students rated the tutorial as easy to use and understand. In this study, we provide evidence that an Internet tutorial can be comparable in effectiveness to standard lecture or demonstration techniques.
ISSN:0098-6283
1532-8023
DOI:10.1207/S15328023TOP2704_08