Abstract:

Statistical concepts emerge in the educational system in the early years of the obligatory elementary education; they are reinforced during the obligatory secondary education and they still continue being relevant for college students. Nevertheless, teachers and professors coming from different scientific areas report the difficulty of the correct comprehension of many of the most basic statistical concepts. Different ways to overcome this drawback have been proposed, and among them the use of simulation looks one of the most promising. Simulation as didactic tool allows among others, to create an active learning environment which is positive for the learning process.
However, the use of simulation alone is not enough to resolve the problems of teaching/learning statistics. It’d be convenient to reinforce simulation tools with didactic techniques based on collaborative learning. The conjunction of both approaches offers a double innovation, cooperative learning and use of TICs, which can improve the understanding of statistical concepts.
The present work shows one educational innovation project carried out in the University of the Basque Country (Spain) that join two levels of innovation in the education / learning of quantitative concepts in the Social Sciences; a) the use of the simulation as didactic resource based on the development of the TICs and, b) the application of educational methodologies constructed on the cooperative learning as context of work. Both aspects are jointly developed and implemented using the R environment as tool of work.

Keywords:

Educational Innovation, Simulation, R, Cooperativa learning.