IDENTIFYING IMPEDIMENTS TO LEARNING PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS FROM AN ASSESSMENT OF INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE

A detailed multisite evaluation of instructional software designed to help students conceptualize introductory probability and statistics yi elded patterns of error on several assessment items. Whereas two of th e patterns appeared to be consistent with misconceptions associated wi th deterministic reasoning, other patterns indicated that prior knowle dge may cause students to misinterpret certain concepts and displays. Misconceptions included interpreting the y-axis on a histogram as if i t were a y-axis on a scatter plot and confusing the values a variable might take on by misinterpreting plots of normal probability distribut ions. These kinds of misconceptions are especially important to consid er in light of the increased emphasis on computing and displays in sta tistics education.