A SURVEY OF THE TEACHING OF STATISTICAL LITERACY, REASONING AND THINKING: TEACHERS’ CLASSROOM PRACTICE IN MEXICAN HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52041/serj.v20i2.397Keywords:
Statistics education research, Statistics teaching, Statistical literacy, Statistical thinking, Statistics teaching in MexicoAbstract
This paper presents partial results of a one-year project funded by a grant from Mexico’s National Science and Technology Council and the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education that was designed to characterize the teaching of statistics in Mexican high school education. Work was organized in two 6-month phases. The first stage involved documentary research that consisted of analyzing the study programs of statistics courses used at 12 high school-level educational systems. The second used the field research technique to design and administer a survey called “Teaching Statistical Literacy, Reasoning and Thinking” (TSLRT), that was answered by 754 high school statistics teachers at those 12 educational systems. Both phases were based on the theoretical ideas of statistical literacy, reasoning and thinking, and were conducted with the aim of constructing a reference framework to analyze the study programs (phase one) and design the items included in the TSLRT survey (phase two). Here, we report results from the survey applied, which was comprised of 18 items on sociodemographic variables and 65 Likert scale items that measured the degree to which teachers’ classroom practice focused on elements of statistical literacy, reasoning and thinking, or shared elements. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to the responses to the 65 Likert scale items. Results indicate that the responses fit a one-dimensional model. Finally, we discuss the pedagogical and theoretical implications of the TSLRT survey results.
Abstract: Spanish
En este artículo, reportamos parte de los resultados de un Proyecto de investigación de un año, el cual fue financiado por el Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología y el Instituto Nacional para la Evaluación Educativa. El Proyecto fue diseñado para caracterizar la enseñanza de la estadística en la Educación Media Superior mexicana, y se organizó en dos fases de 6 meses cada una. La primera etapa involucró un estudio documental que consistió en analizar los programas de estudio de la materia de estadística utilizados en 12 diferentes sistemas educativos de educación media superior. La segunda usó la técnica de investigación de campo para diseñar y administrar un cuestionario llamado “Enseñanza de una Cultura, Razonamiento y Pensamiento Estadístico” (TSLRT, por sus siglas en inglés). El cuestionario fue respondido por 754 profesores de educación media superior que imparten la materia de estadística y laboran en escuelas de los 12 sistemas educativos mencionados. Ambas fases estuvieron basadas en las ideas teóricas de cultura, razonamiento y pensamiento estadístico con el objetivo de construir un marco de referencia para analizar los programas de estudio (fase uno) y diseñar los ítems incluidos en el cuestionario TSLRT (fase dos). Aquí, reportamos los resultados del cuestionario aplicado, el cual consistió en 18 ítems sobre variables sociodemográficas y 65 ítems de escala Likert que midieron el grado en que la enseñanza del profesor se centra en elementos de una cultura, razonamiento y pensamiento estadístico, o en elementos comunes. Se aplicó un análisis factorial de confirmación a las respuestas de los 65 ítems. Los resultados indican que las respuestas se ajustan a un modelo unidimensional. Finalmente, discutimos las implicaciones pedagógicas y teóricas de los resultados del cuestionario.
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