This paper is from Session 1D: Building the capacity to teach and understand statistics in emerging economies

which comes under Topic 1: Sustaining strengths and building capacity in statistics education

Sustaining teachers’ capacity for teaching statistical inference through reflective practice

Presenter

• Enriqueta Reston (University of San Carlos, Philippines)

Co-author

• Liza Lorena Jala (University of Cebu, Philippines)

Abstract

In this paper, we present reflective practice as an approach to sustain teachers’ ability to teach statistical inference in more meaningful, relevant contexts using real data and technology integration for optimal student learning outcomes. From an initial workshop with college statistics teachers on statistical inference and reflective practice, we followed up selected teachers and built multiple case studies to examine how these teachers’ understanding of statistical inference evolved and influenced their classroom practice. Using Taggart’s (2005) Reflective Thinking Model, we explored how teacher’s capacity for reflective practice improved as they moved up from the technical to the contextual and finally, to the dialectical level. Teachers reflect on their own teaching experiences to improve instructional decisions and classroom practice in these levels using techniques such as self-reports, peer observation and assessment, journal writing and focus group discussion to support the integration of reflective practice into their teaching.