Contributed paper list


   (Monday 14th, 13:45-15:45)   In session C3C

Examining Venezuelan secondary school mathematics teachers’ professional competencies to teach statistics: focusing on the instruction of descriptive statistics

Presenter

Orlando González (Japan)

Abstract

This article reports on a study of mathematics teachers’ professional competencies for teaching statistics at secondary school, which are of critical importance to achieve the aims of the mathematics curriculum regarding statistics education. In this study, such competencies are defined using an eight-dimensional construct, comprised of the six aspects of professional knowledge identified by Ball, Thames and Phelps (2008), as well as conceptions of variability and beliefs about statistics teaching and learning. Based on this framework, a survey instrument was designed and administered to fifty-three secondary school mathematics teachers working at the metropolitan area of Caracas, Venezuela. The collected data not only revealed strengths, weaknesses and misconceptions in participants’ professional knowledge base, but also led to a deeper understanding about how the identified dimensions of professional competencies for teaching contents in the field of descriptive statistics might affect each other. Furthermore, some other interesting findings, trends and implications yielded from the data analysis are discussed.