Project-Based Learning in Social Statistics: Direct and indirect assessment of student learning outcomes

The two co-authors were students in this statistics course last year and initiated this project based on their observation that some of their peers struggled with the course content. Statistics education literature suggests anxiety and low sense of self-efficacy related to learning statistics are significant barriers to student engagement and learning in undergraduate social statistics courses. We designed and implemented a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) intervention in a social statistics course in Spring 2020. Preliminary analyses from our ongoing project includes both direct and indirect assessment of student learning (demonstrated student learning and statistics anxiety and efficacy, respectively) among a sample of 29 students currently enrolled in a social statistics course at Duquesne University. Our indirect measures of student learning are based on student responses to validated scales in questionnaires administered at the start of term and at Week 11. Improvements in mean anxiety and efficacy scores were observed, but did not reach statistical significance. However, students indicated high levels of satisfaction with the PBL intervention, despite reporting challenges related to the transition to online learning (after closure of the campus due to the COVID-19 Pandemic)