Microsoft Excel as a supplement in a high school statistics course

Abstract

This study was conducted in the spring of 2002 at Arlington High School in a Probability and Statistics course for junior and senior level students. Two sections of the class were compared with respect to the use/non-use of EXCEL in the course. The experimental group (the one using EXCEL) outperformed the control group on five of the six teacher-created unit tests and on both of the criterion referenced assessments used by the district; however, the differences were not statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Furthermore, the experimental group expressed very positive feelings towards the use of the software in a survey administered at the conclusion of the course.

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank the referees for their many helpful suggestions.

Notes

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Larry J. Stephens*

* The author to whom correspondence should be addressed.