Each Activity deals with a single concept or a few tightly related concepts in a single, consistent way. This approach helps students to fit each new idea into their growing understanding of statistics. Students learn to do what statisticians and data analysts actually do. They apply their newly learned skills to real data and interpret the results in meaningful ways. Students leave the course with practical computer-based skills and, if they own the ActivStats CD, with a functional statistics package.
Students discover for themselves many of the key ideas of statistics.
Discovered concepts are easier to retain and tend to fit together into a coherent whole more completely. In the challenging areas of probability and inference, ActivStats treats the computer as a laboratory for random phenomena, providing truly random experimental results. Animated tools in ActivStats behave like real-world objects. Realistic animations are more compelling and more effective for teaching. The best time to teach a concept or definition is when the student asks about it.