This paper presents the results of a multi-year effort to redesign the introduction to business course at Western Michigan University. ScrimmageSIM, a business simulation that emulates commercial ERP systems, provides the core experience in the course and is a mechanism for students to develop their understanding of business with a focus on…

Group composition presents a compelling, significant, and timely topic for educators, given the widespread use of group assignments in today's pedagogical models. This paper adopts a Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) as a systematic approach to investigate the conditions for high learning performance in marketing simulations. We…

Few academic disciplines have undergone the academic scrutiny that history has since the end of the Second World War. A growing consensus among historians has emerged to the effect that, if history is to be revitalized, it will require recognition of the disconnect between popular and professional, as well as an embracing of innovative methods of…

Though statistical testing is commonly practiced, the logic of statistical tests is confusing, thinking about distributions is difficult, and the way statisticians formulate expectations as probability distributions is poorly understood. To support instruction, the statistics education community has increasingly utilized simulation-based…

We describe a hands-on project in which students collect data on the impact of distracted driving on driver reaction time. Initially they do this in class via a virtual driving applet, using themselves and fellow students as test subjects. Different applet versions simulate driving with and without distraction and measure the time it takes to…

The Databank of Dynamics Trajectories (DDT, notthatddt.org) was established to assist students in visualizing the dynamical behaviors occurring during chemical reactions and conformational changes, with a focus on processes taught in introductory organic chemistry classes. Animations of reacting molecules created using "ab initio"…

This study presents the results of two studies using a virtual reality (VR) public-speaking training simulation as an instructional aid in a basic communication course. Results from the first study suggest that VR practice was associated with higher subsequent speech delivery grades in the course compared to no practice. However, VR practice did…

Interactive web-based applets have proven effective in teaching statistics. This article presents new implementations of web-based applets primarily targeting a traditional introductory statistics course in two particular areas: (a) using real-time response data to engage students in simulations and (b) generating randomized datasets for…

One of the first simulation-based introductory statistics curricula to be developed was the NSF-funded Change Agents for Teaching and Learning Statistics curriculum. True to its name, this curriculum is constantly undergoing change. This article describes the story of the curriculum as it has evolved at the University of Minnesota and offers…

Active learning approaches to biology teaching, including simulation-based activities, are known to enhance student learning, especially of higher-order skills; nonetheless, there are still many open questions about what features of an activity promote optimal learning. Here we designed three versions of a simulation-based tutorial called…

In the classroom, we traditionally visualize inferential concepts using static graphics or interactive apps. For example, there is a long history of using apps to visualize sampling distributions. The lineup protocol for visual inference is a recent development in statistical graphics that has created an opportunity to build student understanding.…

Microsoft Excel and Access are widely used in introductory courses designed to teach the fundamentals of spreadsheet and relational database modeling skills in various disciplines. To achieve the targeted learning outcomes, instructors of these courses strive to provide students with guided, frequent, and incrementally fruitful practice with the…

Virtual experiments offer opportunities for students to engage in the scientific process and observe scientific phenomena. However, virtual experiments are not always effective for learning. The current study examined how two small manipulations might support better learning from virtual experiments and the extent to which this varied across…

In this paper, the SOLO taxonomy is used to identify different levels of student understanding of the statistical concepts associated with sampling distribution. This study was part of a research project investigating students' conceptual understanding of concepts of hypothesis testing taught with the support of simulation learning activities. The…

We designed an asynchronous undergraduate introductory statistics course that focuses on simulation-based inference at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this article, we describe the process we used to design the course and the structure of the course. We also discuss feedback and comments we received from students on the course evaluations,…