PREPARING TO TEACH DATA ANALYSIS AND PROBABILITY WITH TECHNOLOGY

Many national and international organizations and curricula promote the use of technology in teaching and learning statistics. Whether technology will enhance or hinder students’ learning depends on teachers’ decisions when using technology tools that are often based on knowledge gained during a teacher preparation program. Teacher education and research on teachers has been greatly influenced by Shulman’s (1986) idea of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). More recently, Koehler and Mishra (2005) and Niess (2005) have described technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) as the integration of teachers’ knowledge of content, pedagogy and technology, and TPCK is needed to effectively use technology to teach specific subject matter. Niess (2005) describes four different aspects that comprise teachers’ TPCK: 1) an overarching conception of what it means to teach a particular subject integrating technology in the learning process; 2) knowledge of instructional strategies and representations for teaching particular topics with technology; 3) knowledge of students’ understandings, thinking, and learning with technology; and 4) knowledge of curriculum and curriculum materials that integrate technology with learning. Considering the components of TPCK, we believe such a model should integrate mathematical/statistical content, technology, and pedagogy, with a focus on student thinking. Thus, a key feature in preparing teachers to teach mathematics or statistics with technology is to integrally develop teachers’ TPCK. The GAISE project (Franklin & Garfield, 2006) and the 2008 joint ICMI/IASE study are current examples of international awareness of the need for teachers to have a deeper understanding of data analysis and probability concepts and the ability to use simulation and data analysis tools, as learners and teachers (e.g., Konold & Higgins, 2003; Batanero, Godino & Roa, 2004). Although simulation and data analysis tools (e.g., graphing calculators, spreadsheets, Fathom, TinkerPlots, Probability Explorer) may be available in classrooms, there is a need for high quality teacher education materials. Such materials can help teacher educators become comfortable with and incorporate tools for teaching probability and data analysis in teacher education contexts. Materials should also support teachers to develop a specific type of TPCK related to statistics that includes a deeper understanding of: data analysis and probability concepts, technology tools that can be used to study those concepts, and pedagogical issues that arise when teaching students these concepts using technology.