Robert C. delMas

My current research interests began with my doctoral dissertation, in which I looked at the effects of an activity-based instructional approach on students’ understanding of probability. I continue to experiment with activity-based approaches, which I get to test when teaching statistics. I am currently working on three projects: with Joan Garfield on a project, called ARTIST, funded by the National Science Foundation to develop online resources for assessment in statistics courses; research on how students learn about statistical variability while interacting with software that I designed; and another NSF funded project, again with Joan Garfield, looking at the effect of an innovative, activity-based curriculum for introductory statistics that does not follow a traditional ordering of topics.

My other interests include playing guitar and harmonica, woodworking and home improvement projects, spending time with my family, spending time in the outdoors (especially canoeing), and practicing a traditional style of Japanese karate.

Courses I teach

(all EPSY courses)

EPSY 8261—Statistical Methods I: Probability and Inference

EPSY 8262—Statistical Methods II: Regression and the General Linear Model

Publications

1. Garfield, J., delMas, R., & Chance, B. (in press). Using students’ informal notions of variability to develop an understanding of formal measures of variability. In M. Lovett and P. Shah (Ed.), Proceedings of the 33rd Carnegie Symposium on Cognition: Thinking with Data. Erlbaum.

2.  delMas, R., & Liu, Y. (2005). Exploring students’ conceptions of the standard deviation. Statistics Education Research Journal, 4(1), 55-82. http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications.php?show=serj

3.  delMas, R. (2004).  A comparison of mathematical and statistical reasoning.  In D. Ben-Zvi and J. Garfield (Eds.), The Challenge of Developing Statistical Literacy, Reasoning, and Thinking (pp. 79-95). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

4.  Chance, B., delMas, R., & Garfield, J. (2004). Reasoning about sampling distributions.  In D. Ben-Zvi and J. Garfield (Eds.), The Challenge of Developing Statistical Literacy, Reasoning, and Thinking (pp. 295-323). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

5.  delMas, R., Garfield, J., & Chance, B. (1999).   A model of classroom research in action:  Developing simulation activities to improve students’ statistical reasoning.  Journal of Statistics Education, 7 (3), http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/secure/v7n3/delmas.cfm.