Teaching statistics at the primary school level: beliefs, affordances, and pedagogical content knowledge

Abstract

The degree to which statistics teaching focuses on rules or on critical thinking depends on teachers’ perceptions of and knowledge of statistics, along with their pedagogical content knowledge. This paper reports findings from a brief study with 27 pre-service primary teachers. The teachers completed a survey and planned a lesson for a grade six class, based on a resource that offered rich data and opportunities for addressing issues of statistical literacy. The survey responses and teaching plans analysis reveal an ambivalent attitude towards statistics and an inability or unwillingness to engage deeply with the resource. Most teaching plans focused on correct graphs and rules for presentation or calculation of statistics but put little if any emphasis on understanding the data source or its implications. This simple task provided insight into the pre-service teachers’ knowledge and perceptions, as well as their priorities for their students.