The effectiveness of applets in teaching the Central Limit Theorem to community college students

The study investigated the impact of web-based applet technology on introductory statistics students' understanding of variability by focusing on sampling distribution of the mean and the Central Limit Theorem. The participants in the study were students enrolled in two introductory statistics classes at a large community college in New York City in the Spring--Fall of 2009. The college has an enrollment of 25,000 students; 63% are women, and 37% are men. Sixty-four percent of the students are enrolled full-time, and 36% are enrolled part-time.;The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of two different teaching methods on two different groups of students using pretest-posttest methodology.;Over a period of 14 weeks, students in the experimental group (n = 31) took part in web-based applet activities designed to engage them in the learning process and to promote understanding of the sampling distribution and the Central Limit Theorem. Students in the control group (n = 21) participated in non-web-based applet activities that paralleled the sampling distribution and Central Limit Theorem activities with respect to goals and objectives but did not involve applet technology.;The data were analyzed by SPSS-ANCOVA for which the scores on the post-test variables were adjusted for the subjects' initial differences on the control variable (pre-test scores).;The study found that introductory statistics students receiving traditional instruction supplemented by web-based applets with sampling distribution of the mean and the central limit theorem capabilities outperformed students who did not receive applet instruction. Attitudinal questionnaires indicated that students who used applet technology were more positive about statistics than students who did not use applets.