Effective Think-Pair-Share Pedagogical Strategy to Improve Inferential Statistics Concept Understanding

Abstract

The Think-Pair-Share (TPS) technique is believed to encourage students who are shy to participate in classrooms. In this method, the instructor poses a problem and the students work on it individually to begin with. Next, they work in pairs and the final step is a discussion held by the entire classroom. The strategy allows students to think for a while, then talk to their partners, or group mates and share ideas. The students are encouraged and motivated to participate in the classroom. TPS is one of the cooperative learning methods that promotes group participation, discussion, critical thinking about the question being considered, presentation of personal ideas and opinions in a supportive environment. Statistics for Computer Science being a core subject and buzz word for the field of computer science engineering and data science, this strategy was implemented for the third-year computer engineering students to bring about an improvement in the conceptual understanding of inferential statistics concept. This proposed research work is an inferential statistical analysis of implemented TPS activity. Pre and post test was conducted for the inferential statistics concept on a random samples of 25 students. Parametric paired t-test is used to validate the hypothesis. Statistical results show that there is an improvement in concept understanding after TPS activity. Moreover, the outcome of the experiment along with feedback from the students related to this strategy are also excellent.