Inferential statistics and the graphics calculator
Barry Kissane
School of Education
Murdoch University
kissane@central.murdoch.edu.au
Abstract
Recent teaching and learning of elementary statistics have been influenced
by the use of statistical packages on microcomputers, which have permitted
data storage and flexible data analysis. Scientific calculators have
routinely provided some statistical capabilities for some time, but
generally they have been too limited to be used as alternatives to computer
statistics packages, at least at the undergraduate level. In this paper,
graphics calculators are regarded as devices that combine some of the
advantages of each of these two kinds of technology for early work in
statistics. The first generation of graphics calculators, while providing
significant data analysis opportunities, were insufficient for the needs of
students of early undergraduate statistics, since the important aspects of
inferential statistics were not accessible. Later models include
capabilities dealing with hypothesis testing, the construction of
confidence intervals and the tabulation of probability distributions, and
the paper argues that these meet most of the statistical needs of
introductory courses. The small size and cost of graphics calculators
increase the prospect that individual students will have ready access to
them at all times, with significant curriculum implications identified.
Programming capabilities of graphics calculators allow for student
explorations dealing with important concepts in statistical inference to be
conducted, some examples of which are described in the paper.
© Asian Technology Conference in Mathematics, 1998.