Introductory Statistics: Preparing In-Service Middle-Level Mathematics Teachers for Classroom Research

• Activity Number: 312
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 2, 2016 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Jennifer Green* and April T. Kerby and Erin E. Blankenship and Kendra K. Schmid and Wendy M. Smith
• Companies: Montana State University and Winona State University and University of Nebraska - Lincoln and University of Nebraska Medical Center and University of Nebraska - Lincoln
• Keywords: Teacher development ; Classroom research ; Middle-level mathematics ; Statistics education

Abstract

In an age of accountability, educators are expected to collect, summarize and interpret data in meaningful ways that allow them to make classroom-based decisions about curriculum, instruction and teaching practices. Therefore, it is important to understand how teachers use statistical concepts to assess students and their own practice. This research examines how in-service middle-level mathematics teachers who have completed an introductory statistics course as part of a master's degree program use statistics in their own classroom research, also known as action research. In this presentation, we will briefly describe the program and the introductory statistics course in which teachers participated, outline the program's classroom research project requirements, and discuss findings from our qualitative analysis of a subset of these projects. These results help us understand how the teachers apply their knowledge of statistics to their own research, enabling us to structure learning opportunities that help meet teachers' professional needs.