TinkerPlots as an Interactive Tool for Learning about Resampling

Abstract

The question motivating this study was the feasibility of students in grade 10, aged about 15, assimilating the ideas of inference through resampling procedures. The tool to be used to achieve repeated random sampling was the software TinkerPlots, which includes a pseudo-random Sampler capable of reas- signing data to treatments and keeping a history of such simulations to calculate frequencies of occurrence of particular statistics to compare with experimental values. Two grade 10 teachers volunteered their classes for 5 weeks of a unit on “statistics and probability” to take part in the study. Although lessons with de- tailed instructions were provided by the researcher, the project, because it took place in actual classrooms, became an action research project as the teachers adapted the material to their needs and the needs of their students. Although there were several research questions associated with the study, this chapter focusses on issues associated with the students’ use of TinkerPlots and the goal of their appre- ciation of the nature of randomization and resampling.