This is a session of Topic 3: Learning to teach statistics



Learning to use context in teaching statistics at school and tertiary level
Organizer
- Maxine Pfannkuch (New Zealand)
Abstract
The purpose of statistical investigation is to learn more about a real situation. Gaining new knowledge about a real situation “requires a different kind of thinking because data are not just numbers, they are numbers with a context” (Cobb & Moore, 1997, p. 801). Therefore the raw materials on which statistical thinking works are statistical knowledge, contextual knowledge, and information in the data and these cannot be separated when teaching statistics. When considering context, learning to teach statistics may need a two-fold approach. First, it may mean learning how to use context as an integral part of building students’ statistical knowledge and concepts. Second, it may mean learning to build students’ notions about how to use context to extract meaning from data. This session will focus on the development of students’ reasoning and on teaching approaches with respect to context that need to be taken into account when learning to teach statistics.Papers
Paper | Title | Presenter(s) / Author(s) |
3D1 | The multiple roles of context in the development of students’ informal inferential reasoning | Dani Ben-Zvi (Israel) |
3D2 | Structuring contexts for statistical treatment: initializing statistical reasoning | Erna Lampen (South Africa) |
3D3 | Educational versions of authentic practices as contexts to teach statistical modeling | Adri Dierdorp (The Netherlands) Arthur Bakker (The Netherlands) Jan van Maanen (The Netherlands) Harrie Eijkelhof (The Netherlands) |