MVILAIN@G.BBN.COM.UUCP (12/02/87)
BBN Science Development Program
AI Seminar Series Lecture
REASONING UNDER UNCERTAINTY
Andee Rubin
Education Department, BBN Labs
RUBIN@G.BBN.COM
BBN Labs
10 Moulton Street
2nd floor large conference room
10:30 am, Tuesday December 8
Statistical reasoning is an important prerequisite for both ordinary and
scientific thinking. Yet statistical reasoning is seldom taught to
pre-college students, and when it is, the emphasis is often on formulaic
manipulation, rather than on the concepts that are the foundation of
reasoning about statistical matters.
To address these concerns, we have developed, with funding from the
National Science Foundation, a computer-enhanced curriculum in
statistical reasoning called Reasoning Under Uncertainty that
incorporates the ELASTIC (TM) software system. The course is designed to
help high school students develop statistical reasoning abilities by
using real world activities with which they have practical experience.
The ELASTIC (TM) software, implemented on a Macintosh computer, is a tool
for recording, representing, and manipulating statistical information.
It has standard capabilities such as the ability to represent different
types of variables and create appropriate graphs, including confidence
intervals. Its most experimental features are three interactive
programs: Stretchy Histograms, Sampler, and Shifty Lines, each of which
allows students to interact directly with statistical graphics in order
to achieve a deeper understanding of the underlying statistical
concepts.
The curriculum and software were field-tested in Belmont and Cambridge
High Schools in the spring of 1987. The talk will describe and
demonstrate the pedagogical principles underlying the course and
software, some results of the field test, and our plans for future
development.
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