Prospective elementary and secondary school mathematics teachers’ statistical reasoning

Rabia Karatoprak; Gülseren Karagöz Akar; Bengü Börkan

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2015) IEJEE

Prospective elementary and secondary school mathematics teachers’ statistical reasoning

Rabia Karatoprak
Gülseren Karagöz Akar
Bengü Börkan

Published August 21, 2017 | Pages: 107-124 | Views: 485

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Abstract

This study investigated prospective elementary (PEMTs) and secondary (PSMTs) school mathematics teachers’ statistical reasoning. The study began with the adaptation of the Statistical Reasoning Assessment (Garfield, 2003) test. Then, the test was administered to 82 PEMTs and 91 PSMTs in a metropolitan city of Turkey. Results showed that both groups were equally successful in understanding independence, and understanding importance of large samples. However, results from selecting appropriate measures of center together with the misconceptions assessing the same subscales showed that both groups selected mode rather than mean as an appropriate average. This suggested their lack of attention to the categorical and interval/ratio variables while examining data. Similarly, both groups were successful in interpreting and computing probability; however, they had equiprobability bias, law of small numbers and representativeness misconceptions. The results imply a change in some questions in the Statistical Reasoning Assessment test and that teacher training programs should include statistics courses focusing on studying characteristics of samples.

<p>This study investigated prospective elementary (PEMTs) and secondary (PSMTs) school mathematics teachers’ statistical reasoning. The study began with the adaptation of the Statistical Reasoning Assessment (Garfield, 2003) test. Then, the test was administered to 82 PEMTs and 91 PSMTs in a metropolitan city of Turkey. Results showed that both groups were equally successful in understanding independence, and understanding importance of large samples. However, results from selecting appropriate measures of center together with the misconceptions assessing the same subscales showed that both groups selected mode rather than mean as an appropriate average. This suggested their lack of attention to the categorical and interval/ratio variables while examining data. Similarly, both groups were successful in interpreting and computing probability; however, they had equiprobability bias, law of small numbers and representativeness misconceptions. The results imply a change in some questions in the Statistical Reasoning Assessment test and that teacher training programs should include statistics courses focusing on studying characteristics of samples.</p>

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Keywords

Statistical reasoning, Prospective teachers, Statistics education, SRA

Affiliations

Rabia Karatoprak

University of Iowa, United States

Gülseren Karagöz Akar

Boğaziçi University, Turkey

Bengü Börkan

Boğaziçi University, Turkey

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How to Cite

Karatoprak, R., Karagöz Akar, G., & Börkan, B. (2017). Prospective elementary and secondary school mathematics teachers’ statistical reasoning. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 7(2), 107–124. Retrieved from https://iejee.com/index.php/IEJEE/article/view/69