Connectedness within the Statistics Classroom

Abstract

Background Statistics courses are a necessary component of undergraduate education, but psychology majors often have negative associations with statistics. One way to promote learning within classrooms is to promote classroom connectedness, but few studies have examined classroom connectedness using a social network paradigm. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the degree of connectivity within the lab component of a statistics course, and test if the networks were associated with psychological constructs related to academic success, specifically, grit and resilience. Method Using descriptive network analysis and exponential random graph models (ERGMs), we examined the level of connectedness in statistics labs and whether or not students were likely to connect with each other based on sharing similar levels of grit and resilience. Results Results suggested an overall low degree of connectivity within each lab. However, in the most well-connected lab, students were more likely to connect with other students who had a dissimilar level of grit, but a similar level of resilience. Conclusion There is high variability between different student networks, although all networks were sparse. Future research could further examine the connection between student connectedness, grit and/or resilience, and how these could connect to student outcomes. Teaching implications fostering classroom connectedness could improve student learning outcomes.