title: The effect of directive tutor guidance on students' conceptual understanding of statistics in problem-based learning.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Education is aimed at students reaching conceptual understanding of the subject matter, because this leads to better performance and application of knowledge. Conceptual understanding depends on coherent and error-free knowledge structures. The construction of such knowledge structures can only be accomplished through active learning and when new knowledge can be integrated into prior knowledge.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The intervention in this study was directed at both the activation of students as well as the integration of knowledge.
  
  
  METHODS
  Undergraduate university students from an introductory statistics course, in an authentic problem-based learning (PBL) environment, were randomly assigned to conditions and measurement time points.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the PBL tutorial meetings, half of the tutors guided the discussions of the students in a traditional way. The other half guided the discussions more actively by asking directive and activating questions. To gauge conceptual understanding, the students answered open-ended questions asking them to explain and relate important statistical concepts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of the quantitative analysis show that providing directive tutor guidance improved understanding. Qualitative data of students' misconceptions seem to support this finding. Long-term retention of the subject matter seemed to be inadequate.
authors.affiliation: Maastricht University, The Netherlands. luc.bude@maastrichtuniversity.nl
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Budé
authors.forename: Margaretha W J
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: van de Wiel
authors.forename: Tjaart
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imbos
authors.forename: Martijn P F
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Berger
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D015331:Cohort Studies; D032882:Comprehension; D003210:Concept Formation; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods*; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000193:education*; D013663:Teaching