Decision-Based Learning as an Approach for Teaching Statistics in a Peruvian University

Abstract

Many students find learning statistics difficult, especially novice learners.
Instructors also struggle to teach statistics due to many challenges, such as
students’ misconceptions, lack of math skills, negative attitudes, and deficient
instructional methods. A new pedagogical approach called Decision-Based
Learning (DBL) has been developed to help instructors and students; however
there are limited studies about teachers’ and students’ experiences with this
method, particularly in international settings. For this project, a group of Peruvian
university professors were trained to use DBL. This qualitative study sought to
understand the experiences of one Peruvian statistics instructor and her students
implementing DBL pedagogy and software. The DBL software was created to
help instructors easily implement DBL. Findings identify specific benefits and
challenges participants faced when using DBL. Benefits included the growth of
students’ confidence in solving statistical problems and instructor satisfaction.
Challenges included time-consuming instructor initial preparation and students’
learning transfer issues.