Tabular and Graphical Representation in Statistics in the 5th grade from a Lesson Study

Abstract

The lesson study, originating in Japan at the end of the 19th century, characterizes an approach to professional development centered on the teacher’s practice and focused on students’ and teachers’ learning. Considering the students’ difficulties in mathematics, we focused on highlighting and discussing the statistical learning of 5th-grade students through a lesson study. This qualitative research was developed in a lesson study structured in eleven meetings involving teachers from a public school in Pinhalzinho, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The empirical material consists of transcriptions of recordings, class observation scripts, and student worksheets. The analysis of this material highlighted important aspects of statistical learning, which were grouped into central themes, thus constituting the research analysis categories, of which we will address in this article the category tabular representation and transcription of data into the graph. By discussing this category, we observed students’ learning developed in the competencies in literacy, reasoning, and statistical thinking, as well as elements of the graph: axes, scale, titles, and source. The lesson study enabled the learning of statistical components and concepts and contributed to the teachers’ professional development, minimizing possible lack of confidence and difficulties in this curriculum topic.