This week's lab will answer the question: In a classroom setting, is there a differencein test results between students exposed to a standard method of teaching and those exposed to an experimental method of teaching?

Problem: In recent years, there has been increased attention on style of teaching within the classroom. The question emerges: should teachers stick to the standard/traditional style of teachingin which thestudentis a passive learner of information, taking in information as it is deliveredor should teachers adopt an experimental/nontraditional style in which the student is thought of as an active part of the learning process, seeking out information and helping to identify their correct educational path. The current research sought to investigate this question further. Researchers investigated the abilities of4th grade students after they were exposed toeither a standard style of teaching or an experimental style of teaching.They were given a pretest before the teaching began and a posttest after its completion. The groups will be compared on the difference between these tests (posttest - pretest). The researchers are interested in a significant difference between the groups at the .05 alpha level.

*Note: this is still an independent samples t-test becausewe are not comparing the pre-test to the post-test results. We are instead comparing the test results of the kids who were exposed to one style of teaching withthose who were exposed to another (2 independent groups).

Hypotheses: In a brief paragraph, describe your impression of the question. If you had to make an educated guess, based on your own real-life experience, how do you think test results will differ by teaching method? State the null and alternative hypotheses (State these using the variable names; you do not need to use any numbers). Identify the Independent and Dependent variable.

SPSS Analysis: We have some data from a hypothetical sample that includes 2 levels of teaching method (standard and experimental) and a variable named "Test Change"which is the difference between the post-test and the pre-test scores.

Results: Identify the primary goal of thisanalysis. Report the t-value and p-value anddiscuss in words/paragraphs ifthe test resultsdiffer significantly by teaching style? How do you know? In which style did kids perform better? How do you know?

Conclusions: Write a brief paragraph that discusses what you learned from these variables, including comparing your findings to your guesses from the first question above. Were your predictions supported by your findings? Discuss the limitations of a two-sample t-test for independent samples. How are the conclusions from a two-sample t-test different than those from a one-sample t-test?