ASSESSING PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS CONCEPTIONS OF RANDOMNESS THROUGH PROJECT WORK

摘要

In this paper we present results of assessing conceptions of randomness in a sample of 215 prospective primary school teachers in Spain. Data were collected as a part of a statistical project where teachers first collected data from a classical experiment directed to assess their intuitions of randomness, then analysed these data and produced a report where they had to justify their conclusions. Conceptions are first analysed from the data collected in the experiments and secondly from the teachers' written reports. Results show a good perception of expected values in a series of experiments and poor conceptions of variation and independence in random sequences. These results also indicate a need for better statistics preparation of these teachers and illustrate the usefulness of working with statistical projects in assessing the teachers' knowledge and improving their statistical and pedagogical knowledge.