This is a session of Topic 3: Education and development of staff who teach statistics

Statistics instructors’ knowledge of students’ development of fundamental statistics concepts

Organizer

• Adam Molnar (United States) : Session chair

Abstract

While good statistics teachers need to comprehend many things, one of the more challenging topics to understand is the mind of students. Beginning students, particularly those that struggle, often perceive words and concepts differently than experienced workers. Struggling learners often have complications that many teachers - who generally did well in basic statistics courses - did not experience. Knowing how students think when first engaging with problems, and how instructors might guide sensible development, is an important ongoing area of research. This knowledge, often called pedagogical content knowledge, stands separate from information about solving statistical problem content. While overlapping with issues of technology and assessment, development in this session focuses more on the classroom and students’ thoughts.

This session will focus on teachers and their pedagogical knowledge of students in the classroom. Papers presented will include examples from classrooms and theoretical learning trajectories. Discussion will intermix lessons learned from the presenters and look forward to further development in the area.

Papers