Although knowledge about how to improve statistics teaching is steadily increasing, still very little is known about what statistics teachers actually know, think, and do in their classrooms. The present study is a first attempt to shed more light on the issue. Experienced mathematics teachers were asked about their views of statistics in general and of current curricula, as well as about their impressions of their students' views and abilities regarding statistics. In addition, they were asked to indicate what good statistics instruction should look like. We found that in general, teachers as well as students are quite interested in statistics but that students apparently experience greater difficulties in statistics classes than in classes on other mathematical topics. We identify several potential impediments to effective statistics instruction that might be good starting points for attempts to improve statistics education in German schools.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education