Statistics Teachers' Day 2007Lunchtime Liaisons: Simulations to Explore the Effect of Sample Size on VariabilityMichael Loretz, Massey High School Our senior statistics students are expected to have a clear understanding of the process of taking repeated samples from a population (or populations) and making decisions about how significant any differences are. Key to this is an intuitive understanding of the effect of sample size on variability. Too often, however, our junior students are not given the opportunity to informally explore the effects of different sample sizes on the variability of the outcomes. This workshop demonstrates how probability simulations can be used to facilitate such exploration. With the help of technology, several ways to explore this important pre-statistical thinking are put forward. Curriculum Level: 5 - 6 Files |