摘要：The mastery of statistical ideas has always been a
challenge for many who study statistics. The power
of modern statistical software, taking advantage of
advances in theory and in computer systems, both
adds to those challenges and offers new opportunities
for creating tools that will assist learners. The
animation package (Xie, 2008) uses graphical and
other animations to communicate the results of statistical
simulations, giving meaning to abstract statistical
theory. From our own experience, and that
of our classmates, we are convinced that such experimentation
can assist the learning of statistics. Often,
practically minded data analysts try to bypass
much of the theory, moving quickly into practical
data analysis. For such individuals, use of animation
to help understand simulations may make their use
of statistical methods less of a “black box”.
