Investigating mathematics teachers’ statistical literacy pedagogical content knowledge

Abstract

The new statistical literacy standard assessed in NCEA Level 3 has placed different demands on students’ learning and teachers’ instructional practice due to the increased focus on conceptual understanding (over procedural skills and discrete statistical knowledge), a skill deemed necessary to comprehend, interpret and critically evaluate data-laden messages. However, international literature has reported that mathematics teachers find statistics one of the most challenging topics to teach, and anecdotal evidence suggests that may well be the case in New Zealand. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate: what teachers knew and believed about teaching Level 3 NCEA students statistical literacy; what teachers perceived were factors enabling or inhibiting teachers’ effectiveness in teaching statistical literacy; and patterns of student achievement in NCEA Level 3 statistics. A mixed-methods case-study approach was used with seven teacher participants from a secondary school. Data was collected using three measures: a teacher interview, a closed- ended questionnaire, and a teacher profiling tool that required participants to identify students’ content errors, literacy issues embedded in tasks, and provide teaching strategies that would address the identified content or literacy issues. Findings showed teachers reported having a high degree of statistical pedagogical content knowledge. However, evidence from other sources revealed teachers held a lot of discrete statistical content knowledge, but had gaps in their knowledge of what was required for the NCEA achievement standard AS 91584 ‘Evaluate statistically based reports’ assessing students’ statistical literacy . Evidence from other sources indicated teachers had knowledge of generalised teaching strategies but had not provided evidence of specific strategies that would address students’ misunderstanding or misconceptions. Findings also indicated teachers held beliefs about literacy that may have influenced their classroom practice. Participants reported that a key inhibitor was inadequate and infrequent external professional development to support their ability to teach and assess conceptual understanding. The research concludes there is a need for quality professional development that provides teachers with the content knowledge and teaching strategies to effectively teach statistical literacy.