9354506 Breiman This project, at the University of California, Berkeley, affects almost all of the lower division statistics courses, with a total yearly enrollment of over 2000 students. The goal is to assist the development of statistical and probabilistic intuition and understanding through the use of interactive computing and graphics. This project is the next step in the Statistics Department's efforts to improve lower division instruction, which began in 1986 by integrating computing into the undergraduate curriculum. This year, about 2000 lower division students have ongoing computer assignments. Funded by an NSF Grant, 50 X-Windows terminals and a more powerful SUN server were installed in 1993. The X-Window terminals allows reaching students on a graphical/intuitive level. In the interactive windowing environment, different views of data can be linked together and probabilistic concepts illustrated dynamically so that the ideas come alive. Twenty computer projects will be constructed, corresponding to key concepts discussed in lower division courses. Each project is a small story, consisting of a number of related parts that carry the student into rings of related material. Each project requires responses and initiative on the part of the students. All parts of the project have as their core the effort to create a setting to give students better understanding of the particular concept being discussed in their classes. This is a first of its kind in undergraduate statistical instruction. The leadership position of the Department in the field of statistics, in the use of computing, and in undergraduate instruction will be an important factor in the programs, course materials, and approach being adopted by other universities and colleges. ***
