SHORT-TERM CAMPS AS CATALYSTS FOR ENHANCING STATISTICAL SKILLS PERFORMANCE IN A MULTINATIONAL SETTING

Short-term educational programs can boost academic performance. This study explored how the Awesome Math Camp 2023 impacted students' statistical skills. The camp included participants from Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia and consisted of 34 participants, 13 males and 21 females. Using the bar chart analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, paired t-test, and Spearman's rank correlation, the study assessed the camp's impact. The bar chart analysis was used to illustrate survey data on students' interest in statistics before and after a camp. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to check for normality in data, the paired t-test was used to compare the difference of means for two related groups and Spearman's rank correlation was used to measure the strength and direction of association between two ranked variables. The bar chart shows that the number of students who were very interested after the program increased while the number of students in the interest and less interest categories decreased after the program. Descriptively, it showed an improvement in the post-test compared to the pre-test, which is an 87.9% increase. The analysis of pre-test and post-test scores showed significant improvements in students' statistical skills where the p-value was equal to 0.00000048 which is less than 0.05. However, Spearman's rank correlation found no significant link between specific statistical items and score changes, suggesting that overall exposure to statistical concepts is more important. The study concludes that short-term camps can significantly improve statistical skills and increase interest in the subject, demonstrating the potential of targeted, short-term educational interventions to provide significant benefits in a limited timeframe.