PROSPECTIVE PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHEMATICS TEACHERS’ BELIEF AND SUGGESTIONS ON THE TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT OF STATISTICS

Abstract

In this cross-sectional survey study, prospective primary school mathematics teachers’ beliefs and suggestions on the teaching, learning and assessment of statistics were explored. One hundred and sixty (n=160) prospective teachers, who study at two public universities’ department of primary school mathematics education in Turkey, participated in this study. As a data collection tool, the belief section of Revised Statistics Teaching Inventory was used. Prospective teachers’ responses to the items of this questionnaire being adapted to Turkish were analysed and presented as frequencies and percentages. A content analysis of prospective teachers' answers to the question of “How should statistics courses to be taught?” were conducted by two researchers, and interrater reliability between them was found to be.93. The participants of this study expressed that statistics courses involved a series of calculations by hand, and their lecturers did not focus on the conceptual understanding of definitions and procedures. Additionally, many participants indicated that formative assessment and alternative assessment tools should be implemented to assess students’ progress in statistics cources. Similar studies can be conducted with students studying in different departments. Furthermore, the relationship between the teaching practice of statistics lecturers and students’ expectations can be explored by observing statistics classrooms. © 2022, Milli Egitim. All Rights Reserved.