Enhancing Learning in Statistics Classes through the Use of Concrete Historical Examples: The Space Shuttle Challenger, Pearl Harbor, and the RMS Titanic

Abstract

A HOST OF SCHOLARS have acknowledged the difficulties experienced by students learning research methods and statistics, especially those in the social sciences who may not be as mathematically inclined as students in other fields of study (Blalock 1987; Bridges, Pershing, Gillmore, and Bates 1998; Potter 1995; Rushing and Winfield 1999; Salkind 2000; Watts 1991; Wybraniec and Wilmoth 1999). Students' anxieties may cause them to delay taking methods courses, adversely affecting their ability to understand material in other classes that incorporate these tools (Bridges et al. 1998:15). Many suggestions for easing student anxiety have been offered, including the use of humor (Schacht and Stewart 1990), small group work (Borreson 1990; Longmore, Dunn, and Jarboe 1996), MM Longmore et al. 1996), and active learning or learning by doing (Potter 1995; Rushing and Winfield 1999; Takata and Leiting 1987; Wright 2000). Generally, active or collaborative learning has been suggested as a key method for improving learning in the area of research methodology. The senior author has been teaching research methods classes for over twenty years, with generally favorable student ratings. He incorporated the use of computers into classroom assignments and classroom work, as recommended by other scholars (Fischer 1996; Kain 1987; Karp 1995; Wilmoth and Wybraniec 1998). However, despite favorable student-teacher ratings and student comments of various kinds, as well as successful collaborations with students on