Bakker (2002) identified two categories of learning software in mathematics: landscape-type software and route-type software. Route type software was designed to guide learners through a hypothetical learning trajectory with a fairly fixed destination. Alternatively, landscape-type software is designed to support learners in conducting open-ended investigations. The use of these dynamic software tools for the learning of mathematics and statistics has gained increasing prominence in schools because of its ability to support multiple purposes defined by the user rather than the software. Little is known, however, about the diversity of approaches in which learners use these software packages to conduct investigations. This paper reports on a study of eighteen prospective secondary mathematics and science teachers' approaches to conducting a statistical investigation using the hynamic data analysis software FathomTM (Finzer, 2001). Three distinct approaches were identified by the research-- Wonderers, Wanderers, and Answerers--each with measurable and quantitative differences in these approaches as well as their potential epistemological roots.
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