Mathematical Sciences (21). This project is developing a suite of dynamically linked instructional materials, tutorials, demonstrations, experiments, graphical interfaces, and computational and visualization tools for improving statistics and probability education. Intellectual merit: The proposed interactive tools target both lower and upper division undergraduate students including those enrolled in a wide range of cross-listed service courses in disciplines such as economics, biochemistry, education, engineering, biomedicine, neuroscience and psychology. The project team combines faculty expertise in computational and statistical modeling research and open-source software development, with staff in a Center for Teaching Statistics and an office for Educational Technology Service. Broader impacts: Undergraduate and graduate students figure prominently in the design, implementation, and validation of the resources, via an iterative cycle of design-and-analysis with instruction, training and learning taking place simultaneously. The Web-based nature of the resources also facilitates the involvement of a diverse population of users. Collaborative efforts with other institutions further bolster the functionality and effectiveness of the resource as a contemporary pedagogical instrument. Finally, the materials serve to advance understanding in the general population of basic probability and statistical modeling techniques, and data and result interpretation for informed and scientific decision-making on social, biomedical and environmental issues.
