Teaching Statistics: Shaping, Fading and Concept Formation.

Based on the assumption that a hands-on approach would enable students to better grasp the usefulness of concepts presented, a course and laboratory component in non-experimental research methodology, statistics, and computer applications for beginning students was implemented at Ursinus College, in Pennsylvania. The course meets 3 hours a week for lecture and 1 hour for the laboratory, and students are primarily freshmen and sophomore psychology majors. The course, and specifically the laboratory experiences, place an emphasis on the principle of "shaping," as students progress in discrete and detailed modules from very elemental instruction in and practice with basic computer commands to analyses of their own psychometric scales using correlation and regression routines. The course also emphasizes the principles of "fading" and "concept formation" in that exact commands for accessing data are provided in lab instructions early in the term, with students merely typing in what they are given, but are gradually eliminated from instructions so that students must use acquired concepts. Lab sessions also offer students an opportunity for collaborative learning, as they cooperate and share insights to help each other. Sample student instructions from laboratory sessions related to frequency and correlation exercises are appended. (BCY)