Journal Article

  • The present study focuses on motivational constructs and their effect on students' academic achievement within an existing statistics course. First-year Health Sciences students completed a questionnaire that measures several motivational constructs: dimensions of causal attributions, outcome expectancy, affect, and study behaviour, all with respect to statistics. The results showed that when the cause of negative events was perceived as uncontrollable, outcome expectancy was negative. When the cause of negative events was perceived as stable, affect toward statistics was negative. Furthermore, negative affect toward statistics and limited study behaviour led to unsatisfactory achievements. Path analysis (Lisrel) largely confirmed the causal relations in a model that was based on attributional and learned helplessness theories. The consequences of these findings for statistics education are discussed.

  • We investigate the use of external visual representations in probability problem solving. Twenty-six students enrolled in an introductory statistics course for social sciences graduate students (post-baccalaureate) solved eight probability problems in a structured interview format. Results show that students spontaneously use self-generated external visual representations while solving probability problems. The types of visual representations used include: reorganization of the given information, pictures, novel schematic representations, trees, outcome listings, contingency tables, and Venn diagrams. The frequency of use of each of these different external visual representations depended on the type of probability problem being solved. We interpret these findings as showing that problem solvers attempt to select representations appropriate to the problem structure, and that the appropriateness of the representation is determined by the problem's underlying schema.

  • The purpose of this phenomenological study was to talk to students about their experiences taking introductory statistics. The author met with eleven students individually for four interviews throughout the semester, followed by a member-checking focus group during the last week of classes. One of the most salient themes to emerge was the students' reliance on their instructor for feedback about performance, directions on taking notes, and the creation of a classroom environment that motivated them to study. As part of the phenomenological tradition, the author presents his own reflections based on these students' comments. Conclusions include the encouragement of instructors to be more mindful of students' reactions to course content, and suggestions for developing a more learner-centered learning environment.

  • Evidence for the superiority of guided instruction is explained in the context of our knowledge of human cognitive architecture, expert-notvice differences, and cognitive load. Although unguided or minimally guided instructional approaches are very popular and intuitively appealing, the point is made that these approaches ignore both the structures that constitute human human cognitive architecture and evidence from empirical studeis over the past half-century that consistently indicate that minimally guided instruction is less effective and less efficient that instructional approaches that place a strong emphasis on guidance of the student learning process. The advantage of guidanc ebegins to recede only when learners have sufficiently high prior knowledge to provide "internal" guidance. Recent developments in instructional research and instructional design models that support guidance during instruction are briefly described.

  • Strong claims have been made about the potential of lesson study, a Japanese form of professional development inwhich teachers collaboratively plan and examine actual lessons. We have explored these claims by asking a group of USteachers to engage in lesson study with the support of Japanese teachers. Our findings suggest that to benefit fromlesson study teachers will first need to learn how to apply critical lenses to their examination of lessons. We describethree such lenses (e.g. the researcher lens) and their role in making lesson study powerful. We also discuss theimplications of these findings for other professional development efforts in which teachers attempt to learn fromconcrete examplesof practice.

  • This article first describes the Japanese professional development practice of lesson study and its articulation within the Japanese educational system. Next, insights gained from an empirical study that explored the feasibility of lesson study in a U.S. setting are discussed. More specifically, challenges to lesson study practice are highlighted, with particular attention paid to the difficulties faced by American teachers in trying to adopt the research focus that is inherent in lesson study. The article concludes with reflections about what the study of lesson study can teach us about efforts to improve teaching, which, like lesson study, center on having teachers examine their practice or that of others.

  • The authors describe a process for creating deep and grounded reflection about the complex activities of teaching that can then be shared and discussed with other members of the profession.

  • Presents an instrument to observe students' quantitative literacy abilities. Discusses document strategy factors and quantitative factors contributing to task difficulty.

  • The intent of this article is to suggest ways to enrich typical data-related assessment tasks for upper-middle and secondary school students. Enriching such tasks supports the notion of assessment as an essential, ongoing component of instruction, affording students the opportunity to engage in higher-order thinking that may lead to making discoveries about data that are of interest to them. Furthermore, presenting students with such tasks may contribute to their appreciating and valuing the graphical representation of data.

  • This article describes two projects in which we attempted to help Advanced Placement (AP) statistics students become proficient at moving through the investigative cycle. Although the projects were implemented in an AP class, they could be included as part of any class in which linear equations and best-fit lines are studied. As we describe the two projects, we also discuss some of our reflections on the extent to which the projects helped our students become more proficient. In the first project, the students focused on the data analysis and inference phases. In the second project, the students had the opportunity to experience all phases of the cycle.

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