Developing Students’ Statistical Reasoning: Connecting Research and Teaching Practice

✍ Scribed by Joan B. Garfield, Dani Ben-Zvi, Beth Chance, Elsa Medina, Cary Roseth, Andrew Zieffler (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 406
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Increased attention is being paid to the need for statistically educated citizens: statistics is now included in the K-12 mathematics curriculum, increasing numbers of students are taking courses in high school, and introductory statistics courses are required in college. However, increasing the amount of instruction is not sufficient to prepare statistically literate citizens. A major change is needed in how statistics is taught. To bring about this change, three dimensions of teacher knowledge need to be addressed: their knowledge of statistical content, their pedagogical knowledge, and their statistical-pedagogical knowledge, i.e., their specific knowledge about how to teach statistics. This book is written for mathematics and statistics educators and researchers. It summarizes the research and highlights the important concepts for teachers to emphasize, and shows the interrelationships among concepts. It makes specific suggestions regarding how to build classroom activities, integrate technological tools, and assess students’ learning.

This is a unique book. While providing a wealth of examples through lessons and data sets, it is also the best attempt by members of our profession to integrate suggestions from research findings with statistics concepts and pedagogy. The book’s message about the importance of listening to research is loud and clear, as is its message about alternative ways of teaching statistics. This book will impact instructors, giving them pause to consider: "Is what I’m doing now really the best thing for my students? What could I do better?"

J. Michael Shaughnessy, Professor, Dept of Mathematical Sciences, Portland State University, USA

This is a much-needed text for linking research and practice in teaching statistics. The authors have provided a comprehensive overview of the current state-of-the-art in statistics education research. The insights they have gleaned from the literature should be tremendously helpful for those involved in teaching and researching introductory courses.

Randall E. Groth, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, Salisbury University, USA

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages I-XII
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
The Discipline of Statistics Education....Pages 3-19
Research on Teaching and Learning Statistics....Pages 21-43
Creating a Statistical Reasoning Learning Environment....Pages 45-63
Assessment in Statistics Education....Pages 65-89
Using Technology to Improve Student Learning of Statistics....Pages 91-114
Front Matter....Pages 115-122
Learning to Reason About Data....Pages 123-142
Learning to Reason About Statistical Models and Modeling....Pages 143-163
Learning to Reason About Distribution....Pages 165-186
Learning to Reason About Center....Pages 187-200
Learning to Reason About Variability....Pages 201-214
Learning to Reason About Comparing Groups....Pages 215-234
Learning to Reason About Samples and Sampling Distributions....Pages 235-259
Learning to Reason About Statistical Inference....Pages 261-288
Learning to Reason About Covariation....Pages 289-308
Front Matter....Pages 309-312
Collaboration in the Statistics Classroom....Pages 313-324
Collaboration in Teaching and Research....Pages 325-341
Back Matter....Pages 343-408

✦ Subjects

Learning & Instruction; Mathematics Education; Cognitive Psychology; Statistics, general; Higher Education