Many students coming into psychology have a somewhat narrow or distorted vision of what the discipline entails and this vision seldom includes statistics. Thus, it is no surprise that many students dread their statistics and research classes and it can be difficult for teachers to help students to be engaged in statistics instruction and to see its relevance. Nevertheless, an understanding of and ability to use statistics is a crucial skill for all students of psychology and helping students to get on board with this fact is a perennial challenge for teachers.
In our own efforts to meet this challenge, we have developed a statistics game that presents students with real-world problems that they must solve using data management and statistical techniques.
In piloting this activity, we have observed that students report higher levels of engagement and enjoyment than they typically experience with statistics instruction. They also report seeing a greater relevance for statistical skills in applied fields, rather than only in research fields. In this presentation we will present on how to carry out the activity as well as our findings on whether it produces changes in students' attitudes toward and knowledge of statistics.