Springer The Teaching and Learning of Statistics: International Perspectives

This book presents the breadth and diversity of empirical and practical work done on statistics education around the world. A wide range of methods are used to respond to the research questions that form it's base. Case studies of single students or teachers aimed at understanding reasoning processes, large-scale experimental studies attempting to generalize trends in the teaching and learning of statistics are both employed. Various epistemological stances are described and utilized. The teaching and learning of statistics is presented in multiple contexts in the book. These include designed settings for young children, students in formal schooling, tertiary level students, vocational schools, and teacher professional development. A diversity is evident also in the choices of what to teach (curriculum), when to teach (learning trajectory), how to teach (pedagogy), how to demonstrate evidence of learning (assessment) and what challenges teachers and students face when they solve statistical problems (reasoning and thinking). Review “The investigations cover a broad range of issues regarding the education of students in statistics at the secondary and higher education levels, along with a few sections focused on the primary level. … the book provides an effective compendium of studies regarding statistics education over a broad spectrum of teaching strategies. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division graduates through faculty.” (N. W. Schillow, Choice, Vol. 53 (11), July, 2016) From the Back Cover This stimulating overview of current innovations in teaching and learning statistics reflects both ongoing trends in the field and the increasing relevance of statistics in our data-driven era. A global panel of scholars, educators, and researchers documents wide-scale challenges such as students integrating statistical and contextual knowledge and teachers developing statistical literacy. The editors and contributors make it clear that the wider uses of statistics are not only applicable to the STEM subjects, but also to critical thinking and reasoning across disciplines, tasks, and interests. The diversity of statistics education is itself on display in terms of curriculum choices, pedagogical strategies, assessment methods, and technological support. Among the topics covered: Learning to integrate statistical and work-related reasoning. Mathematical modeling for critical statistics education. Connections between statistical thinking and critical thinking. Students’ sense-making of graphical representation in a basic statistics module. Undergraduate students’ conceptions of variability in a dynamic computer-based environment. Preservice teachers’ difficulties with statistical writing. Teaching and Learning Statistics captures a watershed moment in education, and is a worthy resource for mathematics teachers and researchers, particularly those interested in statistics education.   About the Author Dani Ben-Zvi is an associate professor at the University of Haifa in the Faculty of Education, member of the Technology in Education Graduate Department, and member of the Mathematics Education Graduate Department. He is also the co-founder of the International Collaboration for Research on Statistical Reasoning, Thinking and Literacy, and co-chairs it with his co-editor, Katie Makar. His research interests include statistical reasoning and technology enhanced learning. He received his Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 2001 at the Department of Science Teaching. Dr Katie Makar is a senior lecturer in mathematics education at the University of Queensland. Her research looks at teaching of mathematics through inquiry. She is also known internationally for her work on statistical reasoning and informal statistical inference at the primary school level. She has done consulting work on teaching with inquiry, reasoning in chance and data, teacher professional s