Classroom Case Studies, Grades 6-8

This is the final session of the Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability course! In this session, we will examine how statistical thinking from the previous nine sessions might look when applied to situations in your own classroom. This session is customized for three grade levels. Select the grade level most relevant to your teaching.

In the previous sessions, we explored statistics as a problem-solving process that seeks answers to questions through data. You put yourself in the position of a mathematics learner, both to analyze your individual approach to solving problems and to get some insights into your own conception of statistical reasoning. It may have been difficult to separate your thinking as a mathematics learner from your thinking as a mathematics teacher. Not surprisingly, this is often the case. In this session, however, we shift the focus to your own classroom and to the approaches your students might take to mathematical tasks involving statistics. See Note 1 below.

As in other sessions, you will be prompted to view short video segments throughout the session; you may also choose to watch the full-length video for this session.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
In this session, you will do the following:
• Explore the development of statistical reasoning at your grade level
• Analyze the use of the four-step process for solving statistical problems in your classroom
• Review mathematical tasks and their connection to the mathematical themes in this course
• Examine children’s understanding of statistical concepts