Innovating in stem: a four-phased learning dynamics in probability

Résumé

The subject of Probability, in which we have carried out the teaching innovation, forms part of the group of compulsory first-year subjects of the majority of degrees in Statistics. It is also an obligatory bridge between the world of Descriptive Statistics and the world of Inferential Statistics. This connection requires presenting fundamental concepts such as random variable. But the assimilation of the concept of random variable by students presents many difficulties.For this reason, we have proposed a learning dynamic in four phases:(1) the teacher presents the concept of random variable and the main distributions;(2) groups of two people are formed and a specific distribution is randomly assigned to each group. In this phase, the objective is for students to consolidate the most relevant properties of this variable. Once they have carried out a bibliographic search on the applications of the random variable, they are presented with a social project in which they are asked to get involved and identify how, with the random variable studied, they can give a solution to the problem presented.(3) Due to the fact that one of the deficiencies found is the elaboration of reports, the students are asked to write a report that is comprehensible to the rest of their classmates.(4) The last phase consists of making an oral presentation during which a questionnaire is administered to the students to assess different aspects of the intervention of each group.The evaluation of the student in this activity will be carried out according to three criteria: the teacher will give a score to the report and the oral presentation, and through the questionnaire, provided in the fourth phase of the proposed learning dynamic, the rest of the classmates will score the presentation of their work. The final grade will be calculated as the average of the teacher's assessment and the average assessment of the rest of the classmates.On the basis of these assessments, two rankings will be created, one based on the score obtained in the report and the other on the score obtained in the questionnaire for the oral communication. The first three positions of each ranking will have an extra point in the continuous evaluation of the subject.By means of this method, we have discovered that the combination between the teacher's explanation and the student's presentation helps to consolidate the concepts of random variable and to get involved in the subject. After these results it is expected that in subjects of higher courses, where they need the knowledge of these concepts, the results will be better.