The Conceptions of Variation Held by Elementary Preservice Teachers

ISBN-13: 9783639131161 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 272 str.

Dan Canada

Opis

This study addresses how elementary preserviceteachers (EPSTs) think about variation in the threecontexts of sampling, data and graphs, andprobability situations. A qualitative study wasundertaken with thirty students in an elementaryteachers mathematics course. Written surveys werecompleted by all students both before and after classinterventions, and six students participated in preand post interviews. Collective results from thesurvey data, interview data, and class observationswere used to describe components of an evolvingframework useful for examining EPSTs conceptions ofvariation. The three main aspects of the frameworkaddress how EPSTs reason in expecting, displaying,and interpreting variation. Each of the threeaspects is further defined by different dimensions,which in turn have their own constituent themes. Thedepth in describing the evolving framework is a maincontribution of this research. The framework was usedto compare the thinking of the six interviewees frombefore to after class interventions. Evidencesuggests that the class interventions, and the surveyand interview tasks, stimulated changes in the waystudents thought about variation.

O autorze

Dan has been teaching mathematics since 1988, with experience in
America, Yemen, and Korea. His degrees include a B.S. in math
from Biola University, a M.S. in math from Western Washington
University, and a Ph.D. in math education from Portland State
University. In 2003 he joined the faculty of Eastern Washington
University, earning tenure in 2008.