Snapping Sharks, Maddening Mindreaders, and Interactive Images: Teaching Correlation.

Understanding correlation coefficients is difficult for students. A free computer program that helps introductory psychology students distinguish between positive and negative correlation, and which also teaches them to understand the differences between correlation coefficients of different size is described in this paper. The program is desirable in teaching this topic, not only because the computer is a patient, private tutor, but it also allows the teacher to spend his or her time on other material. Contrary to some popular misconceptions, the computer can offer a variety of feedback responses, can present a broad selection of problems, can be given a "personality," can supply a wide range of visual material, and can incorporate pedagogical aids. The program prints out a detailed record of each student's behavior, and students typically master the basic concepts of correlation. Students seem to enjoy the program and it is often used to introduce students to using computers. (RJM) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ********************************************************************************