Statistics as a Potential Way to Change Mathematics Instruction in High School Teachers

Abstract

Because of the widespread adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, the statistics expectations for grade 6-12 teachers have been increased, often substantially. This has motivated a study of exemplary in-service statistics teachers’ professional identities to better understand how exemplary statistics teachers come to be. This poster reports on a piece of this larger project, namely how some exemplary statistics teachers made changes and improvements to how they teach mathematics classes because of their statistics teaching experience. This phenomenon of mathematics teaching improving because of statistics teaching experiences may have implications for teacher preparation and professional development.

Douglas Whitaker

Associate Professor of Statistics