Alternative Approach to Teach Probability and Statistics for College Engineering Students

摘要

Probability and statistics is a required course in many engineering curricula. To tackle real-world problems, engineers must be able to formulate uncertainties into numerical values. Probability is a theoretical and unpractical concept to easily understand. In the past, there have been tremendous attempts to teach probability. This work proposes an alternative approach in teaching introductory probability and statistics for engineering students. It was an empirical result from two-year teaching experiences. In general, probability and statistics are taught as two separated topics. This proposed approach offers to bind inferential statistics into teaching probability. The approach mainly consists of sample data collection and analysis, along with additional assignments. The random-number generating website was constructed specifically for students to collect their own data, apply inferential statistics, and learn probability through samples. In addition, to allow students associated more with samples, sample narration and parameter estimation were added. The additional assignments were given to stimulate application, presentation, self-learning, and collaboration skills. At the end, students noticeably performed better and developed more application skills. Thus, the proposed approach offers students another probability and statistics learning technique.