Contributed paper list


   (Wednesday 14th, 08:20-09:20)

Implications of educational reform in Cyprus on the teaching of probability and statistics at the secondary school level

Presenter

Irini Papaieronymou (United States/Cyprus)

Abstract

Since 1995, the participation of Cyprus in TIMSS has been consistently marked by poor student performance in mathematics (Muller, Martin, & Foy, 2008; Papanastasiou, 2002). In view of this, it is encouraging that as of 2005–shortly after the accession of Cyprus to the European Union–the government of Cyprus has initiated educational reform efforts. Revisions in the national curriculum aim, among other goals, towards helping students develop their critical thinking skills and research capabilities, and becoming active citizens (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2008). Studies have shown that statistics courses have the potential to enhance such skills in students (Derry, Levin, Osana, Jones, & Peterson, 2000). This paper examines the educational reform currently taking place in Cyprus and its implications on the teaching of statistics and probability at the secondary school level.