Teaching Probability and Statistics to Prospective Teachers

• Activity Number: 408
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 15, 2002 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education*
• Author(s): Phyllis Curtiss*+ and John Gabrosek and Alverna Champion
• Affiliation(s): Grand Valley State University and Grand Valley State University and Grand Valley State University
• Keywords: Reform Curricula ; Teacher Preparation ; Statistics Education ; Activities

Abstract

The audience for the course in probability and statistics at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) includes mathematics and statistics majors. Many of the mathematics majors are pre-service K-12 teachers. The current syllabus includes sampling, graphical and numerical summaries of data, basic probability concepts including combinations and permutations, probability distributions of random variables, sampling distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and regression. The course emphasizes conceptual understanding.

Educators at GVSU are involved in a project to enhance the mathematical core. The project seeks to connect concepts taught in college courses to materials encountered in the K-12 curriculum. The activities developed foster a deeper understanding of key concepts by requiring students to construct their own knowledge prior to formal lecturing. An overview of the eleven activities that have been developed thus far will be given.

In a companion session at JSM titled "Activities Integrating K-12 Probability and Statistics Reform Curricula into Pre-Service Teacher Education," we describe how to incorporate one of the activities into the classroom.