INTERNAL REPRESENTATIONS TOWARD EXTERNAL REPRESENTATIONS: THE CASE OF STATISTICAL CONCEPTS

Abstract

External representations, algebraic, graphical, pictorial, tabular, verbal etc. of a statistical concept are of major importance in statistics education. If students could recognize and handle different registers of representation successfully, they would have higher achievements. This complex skill seems to confuse students. The required flexibility to move from one kind of representation to another is considered to be very demanding and this is the main reason why students end up using a specific kind of representation in statistical problem-solving. The main objective of the present study is to assess Greek pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards modes of representations and their translations in SPS (Statistical Problem Solving). More specifically, it explores students’/ pre-service teachers’ preference and liking of different modes of representations, their preference in using them, their opinions about the difficulty of representations and their confidence in using them in SPS. The research sample study consists of 167 Greek students’/ pre-service teachers from the Department of Pre-School Education, University of Western Macedonia, and from the Educational and Policy Department of the University of Macedonia, Greece. Implicative statistical analysis and implicative chains were used in the data analysis. A path model was developed to offer new dimensions in statistics education.