On the contribution of using computers in the classroom in teaching/learning statistics

We must recognise a distinct difference between teaching students with computers, and teaching students about computers. Nowadays, computers are used in secondary schools for information skills courses, such as Word processing and Powerpoint presentations, which are called Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This paper addresses the first situation, the issue of using the computer in the classroom to assist the teaching/learning of the discipline of Statistics. This study aims to find out the effect of the use of the computer in the classroom, in teaching/learning the discipline of Statistics, and more than that it really wants to know if this use can reduce the effect of negative past experiences of learning Mathematics at secondary school. From the data set, based on a questionnaire which involved students from the Technical University of Lisbon, we first built a profile of the students, based on Latent Class Models; second, we concluded that the negative attitude towards the learning of Mathematics (liking or disliking Maths) at secondary school, influenced their performance in the discipline of Quantitative Methods, at secondary school, but the same did not happen with their performance in the discipline of Statistics in the first year at University (using the computer in the classroom).