Watching a Hands-On Activity Improves Students’ Understanding of Randomness

Given the growing interest in using statistical programming languages like R as pedagogical tools, the findings of this study provide important and encouraging insights into the use of hands-on demonstrations to complement computer simulation in remote teaching. It validates the importance of giving students some hands-on exposure to the simulation processes prior to the computational simulation we want them to understand and makes it clear that at least some of the benefits of embodied activities can be retained even if students are not performing the hands-on activities themselves.