With the Stats Plant, we designed an adaptive training and tracking game for Statistics education. A self organizing adaptive system with 2,000 items, it allows students to always train at their own level.

1. Stats Plant
Caspar Groeneveld
University of Amsterdam30-6-2014 1
Implementation of an Adaptive Training and Tracking Game in Statistics Teaching

2. Stats Plant
Statistics teaching
Problems with teaching Statistics
Stats Plant as a solution?
Adaptive Training and Tracking Game
Does it work?
Implementation and Effects
Demonstration Stats Plant
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3. • Statistics and Math are often seen as talents, not skills
– Students should practice sufficiently
• Students often only practice the topic of that week
– Students should retrieve and rehearse previous topics
• Students who are behind are ‘lost’
– Students should work at their own level
• Students enter programs with varied backgrounds
– Students should be able to discover their hiatusus
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Problems with Teaching Statistics

4. 30-6-2014 4
Adaptive
• Self-organizing adaptive
algorithm based on Elo’s chess
algorithm
• Students and problems are
both ‘players’.
The player that wins from a
higher rated player will go up
a bit in rating, and the losing
player down.
Adaptive Training and Tracking Game

5. Adaptive
• 75% chance of correct
• High Speed High Stakes scoring rule
• Both speed and accuracy count
So
• Guessing fast is costly
• Speed visible through coins in the
game
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Adaptive Training and Tracking Game

6. Training
• ~2,000 Statistics problems in three domains
Descriptive Statistics, Probability and Inferential Statistics
Currently only in Dutch, UK items have been translated
• Always train on your own level: 75% chance of correct
or 60% or 90%, if you choose a different difficulty
• Web based
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Adaptive Training and Tracking Game

7. Tracking, see statistiekfabriek.com
• See your development and training frequency
Insight in your progress
• Compare with peers
• Find your problems
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Adaptive Training and Tracking Game

8. Game
• Pimp your factory with coins
• Speed is important for adaptive algorithm
• A faster response risks
more coins
• Improve your factory
with coins earned
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Adaptive Training and Tracking Game

9. • Mandatory Statistics course Research Methods and
Statistics
• 496 1st year students of Psychology
• 89% used the Stats Plant
• Bonus point used as incentive
• One in three students used game dynamics
(i.e. pimped their factories)
• Students enthusiastic
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Implementation and Use

10. Paradox of formative testing
• Students overwhelmingly indicate they want more
formative tests (source: student survey Digital Natives
onder de Loep, goo.gl/1GShCF)
• Without incentive, students don’t (effectively) use
formative tests
• With incentive, most students play minimum
requirements
• With incentive, risk of other undesirable effects
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Implementation and Use

11. • Playing frequency and final mark r=.31
• Stats Plant rating and final mark r=.39
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• Regression analysis: only
rating predicts final mark
• Success rate Research
Methods & Statistics from
worst to highest
Effects

12. • Get your own login at statistiekfabriek.com
• Demo accounts do not track progress
• Only in Dutch
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Demo

13. C.M.Groeneveld@uva.nl
cgroeneveld@oefenweb.nl
Statistiekfabriek was made possible with
a grant from Surf and built by the
University of Amsterdam, University of
Twente and the Universitair Medisch
Centrum Utrecht, and Oefenweb
goo.gl/cpajFF
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Questions?