Teaching the Concept of the Sampling Distribution of the Mean

The authors use proven cognitive and learning principles and recent developments in the field of educational psychology to teach the concept of the sampling distribution of the mean, which is arguably one of the most central concepts in inferential statistics. The proposed pedagogical approach relies on cognitive load, contiguity, and experiential learning theories and on the integration of new knowledge within previously formed knowledge structures. Thus, the proposed approach stimulates both visual and auditory learning, engages students in the process of learning through problem solving, and presents information so that it builds on existing knowledge. Results of an experiment including introductory statistics undergraduate students indicate that students exposed to the proposed theory-based pedagogical approach enhanced their learning by approximately 60%.