This paper is from Session 4G: Professional Development Programs
which comes under Topic 4: Improving teaching and capacity in statistics education
Paper 4G3 (Monday 9th, 16:00-17:30)
Professional Development to Transform Middle and High School Teachers' Understandings about Distribution
Presenter
- Susan Peters (University of Louisville, United States of America)
Abstract
The concept of distribution is foundational to statistical reasoning. To facilitate students' development of statistical reasoning abilities, students, and thus their teachers, need deep understandings of distribution. Using data from a professional development program designed to deepen teachers' statistical understandings, we investigate how dilemma, critical reflection, and rational discourse affect middle and high school teachers’ understanding of and reasoning about distribution. Framed by transformative learning theory, results reveal that critically reflecting on activities such as growing samples and engaging in rational discourse to consider multiple perspectives while working on these activities broadened teachers’ perspectives about distribution. This study identifies factors associated with deepening teachers' statistical understandings and supporting their reasoning about distribution in increasingly mature and refined ways.