PME Working Group for Stochastics Teaching and Learning

<http://www.ugr.es/~batanero/pmegroup>

Letter No 14 - June 1998

Dear Friends,

This Newsletter is being sent to members and also to people not currently part of our Working Group but who are presenting material on stochastics education research at PME. It is encouraging some see some new names among the presenters. We invite you to introduce yourselves to us, and to join in our activities.

This Newsletter contains 5 items and is designed to tie up loose ends before the beginning of the Conference Season.

1. Working Group at PME 22, Stellenbosch

2. Other stochastics activities at the Conference

3. Planning for the proposed book.

4. Proposal for an electronic data base.

5. Next Newsletter

1. Working Group at PME 22, Stellenbosch

There will be three meetings of the Working Group

1. Monday 1400 - 1530 General Business

2. Tuesday 1400 - 1530 Book Project (KT)

3. Thursday 1400 - 1530 Data Base Project (JT)

Agenda for First Meeting

1. Welcome and background to the Working Group (JT)

2 Brief self-introductions by those present

3. Reports

Activities since last year’s meeting (JT)

Web Site (JG)

ICOTS 1998 (KT)

International Study Group (CB)

CIBEM Stochastics Group (Venezuela) (CB)

Stochastics Papers from 1997 (JT)

Book Project (KT) - handout available

Data Base Project (JT) - handout available

4. Brief reports of members’ work

Andrew Ahlgren—Benchmarks for Science Literacy

Other contributions welcome

5. Future Activities

CERME 1998 (JG)

PME 1999 Israel (JT)

ISI Meeting Helsinki 1999 (CB)

Japanese Meetings 2000 (JT)

The members of this Working Group list that we know will be attending are (apologies for any omission):

Andrew Ahlgren (USA)

Carmen Batanero (Spain)

Dave Pratt (UK)

Claude Gaulin (Canada)

Michael Glencross (South Africa)

Juan Godino (Spain)

Avigail Hartman (Israel)

Dave Pratt (UK)

David Reid (Canada)

John Truran (Australia)

Kath Truran (Australia)

Apologies: Anne Hawkins (UK)

2. Other Stochastics Activities at the Conference

Key-Note Address by Paul Cobb—“Analysing the Mathematical Learning of the Classroom Community: The Case of Statistical Data Analysis”

Research Forum—“Learning and Teaching Data Handling”. Co-ordinator Paul Laridon, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesberg.

“Graphing as a Computer-mediated Tool”

Janet Ainley, Elena Nardi, Dave Pratt (Warwick, UK) Reactor: Ricardo Nemirovsky (USA)

“Building the Meaning of Statistical Association through Data Analysis Activities”

Carmen Batanero, Juan Godino (Granada, Spain) & Antonio Estapa (Jaen, Spain) Reactor: Michael Glencross (South Africa)

Research Reports

Jan Bezuidenhout, Piet Human & Alwyn Olivier—”Some Misconceptions Underlying First-year Students' Understanding of 'Average Rate' and of ‘Average Value’”

Hari Prasad Koirala—“Pre-service Teachers' Conceptions of Probability in Relation to its History”

Dave Pratt & Richard Noss—“The Co-ordination of Meanings for Randomness”

John Truran—“Using Research into Children's Understanding of the Symmetry of Dice in Order to Develop a Model of How They Perceive the Concept of a Random Generator”

Short Oral Communications

Michael Glencross—“Developing a Statistics Anxiety Scale”

Sandra Magina, & Maria Cristina Maranhão—“Using Databases to Explore Students' Conceptions of Mean and Cartesian Axes”

Poster Presentations

Andrew Ahlgren—“K-12 Connections in Understanding Probability and Statistics”

Ilouize du Plessis & Claire Roux —“Teaching an Introductory Statistics Course to Social Science Students: a Case Study Approach”

Pablo Flores, Juan Godino & Carmen Batanero—“Contextualising Didactical Knowledge about Stochastics in Mathematics Teachers’ Training

Tatjana Hodnik—“Teaching Statistics in Primary School in Slovenia”

3. Proposed Book—Teaching and Learning Probability & Statistics: Implications from Research

We have had some responses to the announcement in Newsletter No 13, and a list of potential authors is currently being constructed, based on these responses and on our own knowledge. Further information from Kath Truran.

One comment on the draft has been received from Andrew Ahlgren (USA):

In the plan for the TEACHING AND LEARNING book there seems to be a missing piece: What are reasonable expectations in stochastics for general literacy in science and mathematics? And, of course, the complementary question: What additional sophistication should be expected of students specialising in technical fields?

The general-literacy understanding would of course be the base for building the more sophisticated understanding. But, because our knowledge of what can be learned by whom is still incomplete, we don't know how far on the road to sophistication different students can go. What is needed is a progression of goals that represents the how an interconnected web of understanding stochastics might grow over time. A map of such a progression, informed by research but still necessarily somewhat speculative, would serve as

(a) a stimulant for discussion of what valid sequences and cross connections of ideas are,

b) a resource for development and organisation of curriculum materials, and

(c) a guide planning and interpreting tests.

4. Proposal for an Electronic Data Base.

This will be discussed further at the two forthcoming conferences, and at least some parts will be put into place before 1998. There is still a need for more people who can volunteer to write 4 critical reviews a year. Further information in Newsletter No 12 or from John Truran.

5. Next Newsletter

We look forward to meeting some of you either at ICOTS in Singapore or at PME. Safe travelling. For those left at home holding the fort a full report of our activities will be included in the next newsletter.

This is planned for early September and will contain a report of our meetings. Please send material for inclusion by 1 Sep.

John Truran <jtruran@arts.adelaide.edu.au>

Kath Truran <Kath.Truran@unisa.edu.au>

Carmen Batanero <batanero@goliat.ugr.es>

Web Page <http://www.ugr.es/local/batanero/–pmegroup.htm>