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Concepts of experimentation and measurement are explored using statistics educational fun items and illustrated by sharing our process in conducting an experiment on cartoon captions.

Thinking probabilistically is an essential part of thinking statistically, and the probability learning objectives that this article focuses on are those that are important in the underpinning of statistics and statistical models. Like mathematical statistics, probability can be considered purely from a mathematical viewpoint, but the focus here is on understanding concepts.

Jokes, cartoons, songs, videos, and quotes can be useful ways to engage students in discussion and learning key concepts about polling.

Jokes, cartoons, songs, and games can help engage students in discussion and learning key concepts about hypothesis testing.

Jokes, cartoons, songs, poems, and games can be useful ways to engage students in discussion and learning key concepts about regression.

The possible benefits of using music to enhance learning of STEM content are numerous, diverse, and largely unproven. We sought to determine which (if any) of these possible benefits are commonly experienced by undergraduate students and are thus especially worthy of further investigation. Four hundred ninety-three students in nine physiology courses at two midsized American universities rated the usefulness of short instructor-penned mathematical physiology songs and explained in their own words why each song would or would not be a useful study aid. The students collectively perceived the usefulness of each song to depend on both academic factors (e.g., the lyrics' clarity or relevance to the course) and aesthetic values (e.g., the appeal of the rhythm or the quality of the singing). Most strikingly, although students' free responses were brief (median length: 18 words in study "phase 1", 16 words in study "phase 2"), nearly one-half of them (1,039 of 2,191) concerned memory, suggesting that many students see educational songs primarily as mnemonic devices. A second major theme of students' comments concerned the conciseness and information density of the songs. Though all 10 songs were brief, lasting 17-54 s, students seemed to prefer shorter songs (perhaps better called "jingles"). This first-of-its-kind data set on student perceptions of educational songs should inform the creation and usage of such songs, as well as further research on their possible value.

The study presented in this paper sought to offer a group of 21 preservice teachers with opportunities to learn about interdisciplinary mathematics pedagogy, plus the experience of implementing it with elementary students. It provided the participating preservice teachers' with an opportunity to reflect upon the potential advantages, as well as challenges, involved in developing music into an educational resource for teaching engaging elementary mathematics lessons. Analysis of the 391 pieces of qualitative reflections that were collected from the participating preservice teachers during focus group discussions, individual interviews, and self-refection essays revealed the participants' general perceptions about the benefits and challenges of teaching mathematics through music activities.

The use of cartoons, songs, and quotes can be a useful way to engage students in discussion and learning key concepts about quantifying the uncertainty in statistical estimates.

Cartoons, songs, poems, and games can be useful ways to engage students in discussion and learning key concepts about correlation.

Recently adopted state standards for middle grades and high school mathematics content have an increased emphasis on statistical topics. With this change, teacher education programs may need to adapt how they prepare preservice secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) to teach statistics and require measures related to statistics teaching to assess the impact of programmatic changes and track teacher growth. Using responses from a sample of 290 PSMTs from 20 institutions across the United States, this study presents validity and reliability evidence for the high school version of the Self-Efficacy to Teach Statistics (SETS-HS), which could be used to assess statistics teaching efficacy. Confirmatory factor analysis results via Rasch modeling support the use of three subscales, which exhibit adequate reliabilities and correspond to the three levels in the "Pre-K-12 Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education" endorsed by the American Statistical Association. Item and rating scale analyses indicate that the 46 items and the six-category scale employed in the SETS-HS perform as intended.

This article describes the process used to develop and assess an NSF-funded instructional innovation: an online collection (https://www.CAUSEweb.org/smiles/) of 28 interactive songs of high esthetic quality designed to span literature-based learning objectives of introductory statistics that develop statistical literacy and reasoning. The interactive songs are also designed to reduce statistics anxiety and require little time or instructor expertise. The songs are interactive in that the interface solicits (and provides hints and feedback on) student contributions (concepts or examples) and then plays back the song with student inputs integrated and highlighted. After providing a brief background, this article describes requirements, challenges, and opportunities in educational songwriting for the mathematical sciences, then describes the intervention and how its special nature affected the development process. Pilot studies at a research university and at a majority Black two-year college showed that students found the innovation to be a good tool to help their learning, reduce their anxiety about statistics, have an easy to follow interface, and use high quality songs. Analysis of log files from the use of the software shows some evidence of better performance on assessments after use and informs improvements of the automated feedback. Supplemental materials for this article are available online.

Educational fun items can be readily found and used to increase student motivation and learning. We illustrate resources and strategies for a specific piece of content: Simpson's paradox.

The interaction between language and the learning of statistical concepts has been receiving increased attention. The Communication, Language, And Statistics Survey (CLASS) was developed in response to the need to focus on dynamics of language in light of the culturally and linguistically diverse environments of introductory statistics classrooms. This manuscript presents a cross-cultural evaluation of the characteristics of the CLASS III (third generation of the instrument) and provides a user-friendly cross-culturally valid version of the CLASS. Mixed methods are employed to investigate further characteristics of the CLASS III and provide a scale (CLASS IV) that may be utilized in diverse settings. These research results have implications for instructors, professional developers, and researchers to improve instruction with culturally and linguistically diverse student populations.

This literature-based, classroom-tested novel innovation of educational song (with pedagogical scaffolding) may help engage students explore and address common resistant misconceptions in probability (e.g. all outcomes are equally likely) and in statistics (e.g. correlation must imply either causation or coincidence).

English language learners are a growing demographic in secondary, two-year, four-year and research institutions where many students encounter their first course in statistics. In the statistics education literature, recent calls have been made to improve statistical education for underserved student populations, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Some have investigated how ELLs interpret instructional material and classroom practices in the statistics classroom. This study uses a sequential mixed methods approach to investigate how Spanish-speaking ELLs may respond differently to assessment items about measures of center and variation. Comprehensive analyses of this type are essential in order to identify bias and ensure fair comparisons across participant populations. Findings indicate that ELLs do not comprehend context or understand some statistical terms in the same way as non-ELLs. Study limitations, implications, and recommendations are discussed.

Mnemonics (memory aids) are often viewed as useful in helping students recall information, and thereby possibly reducing stress and freeing up more cognitive resources for higher-order thinking. However, there has been little research on statistics mnemonics, especially for large classes. This article reports on the results of a study conducted during two consecutive fall semesters at a large U.S. university. In 2014, a large sample (n = 1,487) of college students were asked about the usefulness of a set of 19 published statistics mnemonics presented in class, and in 2015, the students (n = 1,468) were presented 12 mnemonics related to inference and then asked whether or not they used mnemonics on that exam. This article discusses how students assess the usefulness of mnemonics and evaluates the relationship between using mnemonics and reducing anxiety. Additionally, the relationship between mnemonic usage and learning outcomes achievement will be discussed, along with this study's limitations and implications for teaching.

English language learners (ELLs) are a rapidly growing part of the student population in many countries. Studies on resources for language learners--especially Spanish-speaking ELLs--have focused on areas such as reading, writing, and mathematics, but not introductory probability and statistics. Semi-structured qualitative interviews investigated how a purposeful sample of six (Spanish-speaking) ELLs experienced a bilingual coin-flipping simulation applet (NLVM, 2015) and how students might use such resource to confront content misconceptions and language misunderstandings related to probability concepts covered in college introductory statistics courses. We discuss findings, limitations, directions for future research, and implications for teaching, such as handling the phrases "in the long run" and "longest run".

There has been a recent emergence of scholarship on the use of fun in the college statistics classroom, with at least 20 modalities identified. While there have been randomized experiments that suggest that fun can enhance student achievement or attitudes in statistics, these studies have generally been limited to one particular fun modality or have not been limited to the discipline of statistics. To address the efficacy of fun items in teaching statistics, a student-randomized experiment was designed to assess how specific items of fun may cause changes in statistical anxiety and learning statistics content. This experiment was conducted at two institutions of higher education with different and diverse student populations. Findings include a significant increase in correct responses to questions among students who were assigned online content with a song insert compared with those assigned content alone.

An anonymous survey was given to n = 73 students in an asynchronous online statistical literacy course at a mid-sized Hispanic Serving Institution. Informed by teaching experience, literature on lexical ambiguity, and everyday usage of statistics words and phrases, the first author designed the survey to yield insight into how students view phrases such as "average person," "random person," and "outlier person," and to explore possible connections or patterns with such phrases. Findings suggest that students view phrases such as "random person" in a way much further from standard usage than they do phrases such as "anonymous person." Considerations such as diversity, agency, and variable identification are identified as possibly affecting usage and meriting further investigation. Recommendations for teaching and future research are provided. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A corpus of current editions of statistics textbooks was assessed to compare aspects and levels of readability for the topics of "measures of center," "line of fit," "regression analysis," and "regression inference." Analysis with lexical software of these text selections revealed that the large corpus can be described well by three index variables that summarize the lexical and grammatical complexity of the textbook excerpts. Assessment of those three variables indicates that substantial differences exist in the readability of the topics within textbooks with respect to lexical and grammatical complexity. This analysis suggests that general readability of introductory statistics topics within textbooks varies substantially and it is a recommendation that instructors: (1) be prepared to provide additional support for topics that are more grammatically and lexically complex, and (2) be aware that they can input their instructional materials into LexTutor VP or Coh-metrix as a quick screen for possible readability issues.

An innovative grant-funded general adult audiences international speaker series on connections between mathematics and religion yielded six 2021 (now archived) presentations. We share re ections and lessons learned, informed by two sets of surveys [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]