Preparing Teachers of Statistics:
A Course for Graduate Students
and Future Teachers
Joan Garfield and Michelle Everson
University of Minnesota
Overview
• Discuss issues and challenges in preparing teachers of
statistics at the secondary and college level.
• Present a case study of a graduate level course taught
at the University of Minnesota that:
– Focuses on developing excellent teachers of statistics
– Is based on the GAISE guidelines
– Helps students develop both knowledge of teaching
(pedagogical knowledge) and specific knowledge about teaching
statistics (pedagogical content knowledge).
• Explain how the course was transformed from a face-toface setting to an online environment.
Challenges in Preparing Graduate
Students to Teach Statistics
“Changing our understanding of what constitutes
effective pedagogy, improving the use of
technology, and placing an emphasis on working
with data in elementary courses raise the
standard that teaching assistants must meet. …
Training programs should themselves be models
of good pedagogy” (Moore, 2005, p. 1)
• Training programs in statistics departments
(Harkness & Rosenberg, 2005; Froelich et al.,
2005)
• Few graduate courses for credit (e.g., Gellman,
2005)
Training vs. Development
• TA Training: Prepares good teaching assistants to
assist faculty and teach recitation sections
• TA (Teacher) Development: developing knowledgeable,
competent teachers of statistics.
EPSY 5271
• A teacher development course at the
University of Minnesota
– Unique graduate course offered yearly since
2002
– “Becoming a Teacher of Statistics,” regular
and online
– Serves graduate students across all
departments and teachers in the community
Goals for Students in EPSY 5271
– Develop into competent and effective teachers of
statistics
– Become part of the statistics education community
and utilize good resources
– Develop an awareness of and appreciation for the
research, scholarship and best practices in the field
Goals in Teaching EPSY 5271
– Model an effective and positive statistics
classroom. Teach the way we want the
students to teach.
– Create a learning environment for developing
a deep and meaningful understanding of
statistics and help the teachers develop their
ability to create this type of environment for
students.
– Be a facilitator of learning by providing
resources and activities and encouraging
discussion and reflection.
What is needed to be an effective
teacher of statistics?
• Teachers should:
– Know their subject matter at a deep level
(content knowledge)
– Have good teaching skills (pedagogical
knowledge)
• Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK,
Schulman,1986) is also essential to
promote student learning
Preparing Teachers for a Changing World, DarlingHammond and Bransford ( 2005)
– The importance of preparing teachers to go beyond
“covering the curriculum”
– Those who prepare teachers are encouraged to build
on the growing knowledge base on learning and
teaching to support teachers in meeting these
demands.
– A model of professional practice that includes
knowledge of subject matter and curriculum goals,
knowledge of learners, and knowledge of teaching
(the subject matter).
• Assume most graduate students preparing to
teach introductory statistics have knowledge of
the subject matter, they also need knowledge of
curriculum, learners, and knowledge of teaching
(both in general and specifically, of teaching
statistics).
• Our course is designed to help prepare future
teachers of statistics to become knowledgeable
about each of these areas.
About the Course
• A graduate-level semester long course
that met once a week for three hours at a
time
• Each offering of the course has enrolled a
variety of students representing different
disciplinary backgrounds and teaching
experiences.
• Students have had required textbooks
(Moore, 2001; Gelman & Nolan, 2002) as
well as weekly assigned readings.
Alignment with GAISE
• Course is organized around the GAISE
recommendations.
– Emphasize statistical literacy and develop statistical thinking;
– Use real data;
– Stress conceptual understanding rather than mere knowledge of
procedures;
– Foster active learning in the classroom;
– Use technology for developing conceptual understanding and
analyzing data;
– Use assessments to improve and evaluate student learning;
• Readings and activities each focus on one if the
guidelines.
• Each session or set of sessions are on a
particular guideline.
Weekly Topics
Introduction and Overview
• Discussion of experiences learning and teaching statistics
• Discussion of activities for a first day of class, types of first and
second courses
• Introduction to the new and emerging field of statistics education
• Introduction to GAISE recommendations
Use of real data
• Discussion of what statistics is and EDA is, how EDA is reflected in
introductory statistics courses
• Discussion of importance of data, good data sets, how to use them
and obtain them, how to explore them using statistical software
Weekly Topics
Stress conceptual understanding rather than mere
knowledge of procedures
• Discussion of research on teaching and learning
statistics
• Introduction to Sampling SIM, causeweb.org
Emphasize statistical literacy and develop statistical
thinking
• Defining, teaching, and assessing statistical literacy,
reasoning and thinking
• Focusing on learning outcomes
• Discussion of models and simulation
Weekly Topics
Foster active learning in the classroom
• Discussion of different teaching methods: Active
learning, cooperative groups, lab approaches
• Discussion of what makes a good activity; students
spend time critiquing and improving different activities
Technology
• Discussion of abstract concepts that technology can help
students visualize
• Exploration of websites, web software, online courses,
and more
Weekly Topics
Assessment
• Discussion of ways to develop tests for different
learning outcomes and concepts
• Exploration of the ARTIST website
• Discussion of student projects, critique of
different product guidelines and review of
sample project ideas
• Discussion of assessment rubrics
Weekly Topics
A Statistical Reasoning Learning Environment
(SRLE)
• Discussion of what the SRLE is
• Crafting lesson plans and activities for the SRLE
Innovative courses and projects
• Discussion of AP statistics, ISCAM, CHANCE,
AIMS, and online courses
Weekly Topics
The Statistics Education Community
• Students learn more about where the statistics
education field has been and where it is going
• Discussion of different publications, journals,
organizations, conferences, websites, CAUSE,
ASA, IASE, SRTL
• Discussion of ways to get involved in the
statistics education community
Final weeks: Student Presentations
• Data set
• Web resource
• Group lesson plan
Assignments and Assessments
•
Presentation of a web resource
– Students find and share a favorite web resource
that can be uses to support student learning in a
unique way in a statistics course.
•
Presentation of a data set
– Students find a data set that interests them (one that
includes at least two variables and has both
quantitative and categorical variables) and spend time
exploring it and learning as much as they can about it.
The data set is then shared with the class and
discussion revolves around how the data set can be
used in an introductory course.
Assignments and Assessments
• Group Lesson Plan Project
– Students work in small groups to develop a
detailed lesson plan for one day in an
introductory statistics course.
Assignments and Assessments
• Reflection Papers (4)
– Their experiences as a student of and possibly
teacher of statistics
– Observing a class period in a first course of
statistics
– Reading, summarizing, and critiquing three
articles about teaching and/or learning statistics
– Reflecting on the course and discussing the kind
of teacher they would like to become
Promoting Classroom Discourse
• Another important goal for the teachers in our
courses is to develop an appreciation for the
value of classroom statistical discourse. This is
different from teachers asking questions and
students responding. The kind of discourse we
promote is dialogue where students learn to
question each other, respond to each other’s
questions as well as defend their answers and
data-based arguments. The use of good
activities and technology allows for a new form
of classroom discourse.
Effective Classroom Discourse
• We try to model ways to create a classroom
climate where our teachers feel safe expressing
their views, even if they are tentative. We
encourage them to express their conjectures,
and ask other teachers to comment on these
conjectures. Allowing questions that begin with
“what do you think” or “what would happen if”
can lead to good class discussions.
Challenges in the Online Class
•
•
•
•
Desire to accommodate more students
Adapting from face-to-face
Changing activities and assignments
Role of discussion and promoting
discourse
• A success, but changes will be made
Evaluating the Course
• Midterm feedback
• End of course evaluation
– Students in the course typically report on how
amazed they are at the vast set of resources
available for teachers of statistics and how
appreciative they are of the course and what it offers
them as future teachers.
• End of Course Reflection paper
– Teaching philosophy statement that usually
documents their integration of course learning goals.
• These statements suggest that the students in the course
take the teaching of statistics very seriously, have expanded
their knowledge of statistics education, and have developed
their awareness of good teaching and resources for teaching
and learning statistics.
Success Stories
•
•
•
•
Participation in Stat Chat
Teaching awards
Academic positions after grad school
After course feedback of great success in introducing
activities into their classes and encouraging their
colleagues to also enroll in this class.
• Six students from this course attended the US
Conference on Teaching Statistics (USCOTS)
• In summary, the course appears to be succeeding in
developing knowledgeable, competent, and enthusiastic
teachers of statistics.
Summary
• Unlike some of the teaching assistant
training courses or programs that focus
primarily on administering large sections of
introductory statistics, this course strives
to prepare teachers to understand the
challenges involved in helping students
develop important learning outcomes,
• Focus on developing both pedagogical
knowledge and pedagogical content
knowledge.
Summary
• We continue to evaluate and revise our
classes as we teach them each year.
• We hope more faculty will explore ways to
develop courses for pre-college and
postsecondary teachers and encourage
them to consider the different types of
knowledge needed by competent teachers
of statistics.
Summary
• Moore (2005) offers four
recommendations for preparing graduate
students to teach statistics:
– Borrow from existing programs,
– Model good instructional practices,
– Provide students with written materials to
study and carry away with them, and
– Evaluate how well you are doing.
Summary
• We concur with these recommendations, and
are happy to share our course materials with
others who want to develop such a course:
– Lists of required and recommended readings,
assignments, assessments
– Evaluation methods
• We encourage faculty who have the opportunity
to work with graduate students interested in
teaching statistics to consider developing and
offering a course that goes beyond training to
developing excellent teachers of statistics.
References
• Chance, B., Ben-Zvi, D., Garfield, J., & Medina, E.
(2007, October). The role of technology in improving
student learning of statistics. Technology Innovations in
Statistics Education Journal, 1(1). Available:
http://repositories.cdlib.org/uclastat/cts/tise
• Darling-Hammond, L., & Bransford, J.(2005). Preparing
teachers for a Changing World. John Wiley and Sons.
• Cobb, P., & McClain, K. (2004). Principles of
instructional design for supporting the development of
students’ statistical reasoning. In D. Ben-Zvi & J. Garfield
(Eds.), The challenge of developing statistical literacy,
reasoning, and thinking (pp. 375–396). Dordrecht, The
Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
References (cont’d)
• Franklin, C., & Garfield, J. (2006). The Guidelines for
Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education
(GAISE) project: Developing statistics education
guidelines for pre K-12 and college courses. In G.F.
Burrill, (Ed.), Thinking and reasoning about data and
chance: Sixty-eighth NCTM Yearbook (pp. 345-375).
Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics.
• Froelich, A, Duckworth, W., Stephenson, W.R. Training
Statsistics Teachers at Iowa State Universeity. The
American Statistician. 59 (12), 8-10
References (cont’d)
• Garfield, J. (Ed.). (2005) Innovations in teaching
statistics. Washington, DC: Mathematics Association of
America.
• Garfield, J., & Ben-Zvi, D. (2005, May). A framework for
teaching and assessing reasoning about variability.
Statistics Education Research Journal, 4(1), 92-99.
Retrieved December 26, 2006, from
http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/serj/SERJ4(1)_Garf
ield_BenZvi.pdf
• Garfield, J. & Ben-Zvi, D. (2008). Developing Students’
Statistical Reasoning: Connecting Research and
Teaching Practice. Springer.
References (cont’d)
• Gelman, A. (1994). A course on Teaching Staiststics at
the University level. The American Statistician. 59 (12),
4-7
• Gelman, A., & Nolan, D. (2002) Teaching Statistics: A
Bag of Tricks. Oxford University Press.
• Harkness, W., & Rosenberg, J. (2005)Training Graduate
Students at Penn State University to Teach Statistics.
The American Statistician. 59 (12),11-14.
• Moore, D. (2005). Preparing graduate students to teach
statistics: Introduction. The American Statistician. 59
(12),1-3.