Topic Study Group No. 14: Teaching Learning of Probability (original) (raw)
Related papers
2008
The series of the ICME meetings are probably the biggest congresses dedicated to mathematics education in the world. The 11 th convention of this kind took place in Monterrey, Mexico. This report focuses on the results of the topic study group 13 on probability issues in education. The rapporteur will classify the contributions alongside the topics, which were contained in the call for papers prior to the congress. The importance of research in probability teaching Probability and statistics education are relatively new disciplines. Both have only recently been introduced into the main stream school curricula in many countries. While the application-oriented statistics is undisputed in its relevance, discussion about probability is more ambivalent. Reduction of probability to the classical conception, mainly based on combinatorics, or its close connection to higher mathematics, are sometimes used as arguments to abandon it in favour of the statistics part. However, there are key rea...
Teaching and Learning of Probability
The Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on Mathematical Education, 2015
Probability has strong roots in the curricula of many countries but is relatively new in others. And although probability has been introduced into the mainstream school mathematics curricula in many countries, research does not necessarily support a rapid inclusion into the curriculum because many problems in teaching and learning probability are still unsolved. For example, should probability be taught to all students? When should students be introduced to probability? What is probability literacy? How is probability literacy developed? What kind of knowledge do teachers need in order to teach probability in more concrete, meaningful and effective ways? How do we facilitate the development of such teaching knowledge? How could investigating students' conceptions of probability from various perspectives further inform our teaching? At ICME 12 in Seoul, Topic Study Group 11 provided a forum for presentations and discussion from an international view about the current state and important new trends in research and practice related to the teaching and learning of probability. Traditionally, the teaching of probability concerns two different interpretations of probability: (1) a classical conception, where probability is based on combinatorics or formal mathematics, and (2) a frequency conception, where probability is
This Topic Study Group at ICME 11 was organized by Manfred Borovcnik (Austria) and Dave Pratt (United Kingdom) with the assistance of Yingkang Wu (China) and Carmen Batanero (Spain). Aims and focus of the topic study group Probability and statistics education are relatively new disciplines. Both have only recently been introduced into main stream school curricula in many countries. While application-oriented statistics is undisputed in its relevance, discussion about probability is more ambivalent. When probability is reduced to its classical conception, mainly based on combinatorics or its formal treatment in higher mathematics, it can be seen as irrelevant, and may be abandoned to leave only the statistical element of the stochastics discipline. However, we believe that there are some powerful arguments in favour of a strong role for probability within stochastics curricula: i. Sound probabilistic judgements support people's rational decision-making in important situations, su...
Analysing Probability Teaching Practices in Primary Education: What Tasks do Teachers Implement
Mathematics, 2021
This study analyses probability tasks proposed by primary education teachers to promote probabilistic literacy. To this end, eight class sessions at various levels of the Chilean educational system were recorded on video and analysed through the "probability tasks" dimension from the "Observation Instrument for Probability Classes" (IOC-PROB), which includes five components: use of resources, probabilistic contexts, cognitive challenge, procedures and strategies, and probability meanings. The results show that probability tasks focus mainly on technical knowledge, causing the probability class to become an arithmetic class in which only formulas are applied, mechanically and with no meaning. As a result, we see no use of technological resources, a low use of physical materials, and an absolute predominance of solving decontextualised exercises. We conclude that it is necessary to enhance the probability teaching practices based on lesson plans that consider a wide variety of resources and contexts to gradually advance towards a representation of probabilistic knowledge that relies on conventional procedures and notations.
To provide information to transform teaching practice through improved primary school mathematics teacher training (6-12 years), a tool to assess the mathematical knowledge for teaching didactic probability has been designed. For its preparation the model of category analysis of the mathematical-didactic knowledge of the teacher was considered. This model includes four categories of fundamental knowledge: a) content knowledge, b) knowledge of the contents in relation to students, c) content knowledge in relation to education, and d) knowledge of curriculum and intra-and interdisciplinary connections. These categories can identify, classify, analyse and evaluate both the knowledge teachers need for teaching and the knowledge teachers actually implement when teaching a particular content, in this case the one related to the teaching of probability in elementary education. These skills have been being widely investigated in recent years in future teachers. Nevertheless, in Chile, there is very little data concerning current teachers. The analysis of the data will allow, first, to describe the strengths and weaknesses of the various categories of teacher knowledge involved in the teaching of probability, and secondly, relevant information to guide the initial and constant training of teachers in relation to the knowledge needed for the teaching of probability.
Research and Developments in Probability Education
International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 2009
In the topic study group on probability at ICME 11 a variety of ideas on probability education were presented. Some of the papers have been developed further by the driving ideas of interactivity and use
Probability Teaching in Brazilian Basic Education: Evaluation and Intervention
2008
In this article we develop a scenario of probability teaching in Brazil: curricular issues, teacher formation, didactic books, and activities developed by researchers. Next, we present the following inquiry: which pedagogical actions may contribute to an effective improvement in probability teaching? From our research, we conclude that, in the short time, such actions may include: investing in the continuing process of teachers' formation, and proposing pedagogical activities which allow the pupils to develop probabilistic reasoning, and then to formalize concepts. According to these ideas, we have designed special workshops for teacher in-service.
Teaching Elementary Probability: Not Leaving it to Chance
This paper considers the role of content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in the teaching of probability to Grade 5 students. Le ssons of two teachers were studied to determine the activities and teaching strategies us ed to bring out ideas associated with chance, and examine how probability understanding is developed in class. The lessons are shown to be rich in deep probabilistic ideas. The c omplex interplay between these concepts was sometimes handled well by the teachers, whereas on other occasions gaps in content and pedagogical content knowledge had the potential to cause misconceptions for students. Since the 1990s much research attention has focused on the pedagogical content knowledge of teachers. At the same time, chance and data have become more significant components of the curriculum, particularly at the p rimary school level. This report takes a closer look at the way two teachers use both conten t and pedagogical content knowledge to help Year 5 students d...