Literature Index

Simulation data are used to test a student's beliefs about the relative probabilities of two sequences obtained by flipping a fair coin. The episode is used to illustrate general issues in using simulations instructionally.

This article describes an interactive activity for illustrating general properties of confidence intervals and the construction of confidence intervals for proportions. In completing this activity, students generate, collect and analyse data.

The focus of this research is the concept of median, which has received scarce interest in previous research. We analyse the open responses given by 518 Mexican students from Educación Secundaria (Junior) and Bachillerato (Senior) Secondary Education to a problem involving the computation of median. Using some ideas from the onto-semiotic approach, we classify the responses, taking into account the central tendency measure used, and describe the students' semiotic conflicts. We use the chi-square test to study possible dependence between responses and students' group. We observe better results in computation in Educación Secundaria students but better competence to select the best representative value in Bachillerato students.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of providing preservice teachers the opportunity to collect real data in a science methods inquiry investigation and using the data, design data displays in their mathematics methods course. The research questions focused on how preservice teachers' understandings of data displays, research design, and the specific content addressed improved when they used these displays to attempt to communicate the data they had collected themselves in their inquiry investigations. The 46 preservice teachers were given questionnaires at the beginning and end of the courses, twelve were interviewed both pre and post, all written work pertaining to data displays and the inquiry investigations was collected, methods class sessions were audio and videotaped, and the final data display and science investigation projects were photocopied. The findings show that by creating and scrutinizing their data displays, the preservice teachers were able to recognize the limitations of their inquiry investigation design. Through working with data in the context of inquiry projects of their own design, the preservice teachers realized meaningful connections and commonalities that exist in mathematics and science while strengthening their knowledge and skills in both disciplines.