{"title":"NAVIGATING A DISCIPLINARY CHASM: THE STATISTICAL PERSPECTIVES OF GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANTS","authors":"K. Findley","doi":"10.52041/serj.v21i1.14","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) carry a substantial instructional role in introductory courses for many mathematics and statistics departments. As a result, many GTAs have first-hand influence on the initial statistical impressions of students from a range of disciplines. But as simultaneous learners of the discipline themselves, GTAs in statistics are still forming their conceptions of statistics and statistics instruction. Using multiple case study design, I conducted a longitudinal study with four, first-year statistics GTAs aimed at capturing their experiences and notions related to statistics. This paper highlights several important disciplinary perspectives and tensions expressed by the GTAs. In addition to examining their disciplinary notions, I also discuss noteworthy connections between the participants’ statistical perspectives and their pedagogical views for introductory statistics. Findings reveal that the participants struggled to reconcile how authentic statistical practice could be translated into the introductory curriculum. Implications for GTA training are discussed.","PeriodicalId":38581,"journal":{"name":"Statistics Education Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Statistics Education Research Journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.52041/serj.v21i1.14","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) carry a substantial instructional role in introductory courses for many mathematics and statistics departments. As a result, many GTAs have first-hand influence on the initial statistical impressions of students from a range of disciplines. But as simultaneous learners of the discipline themselves, GTAs in statistics are still forming their conceptions of statistics and statistics instruction. Using multiple case study design, I conducted a longitudinal study with four, first-year statistics GTAs aimed at capturing their experiences and notions related to statistics. This paper highlights several important disciplinary perspectives and tensions expressed by the GTAs. In addition to examining their disciplinary notions, I also discuss noteworthy connections between the participants’ statistical perspectives and their pedagogical views for introductory statistics. Findings reveal that the participants struggled to reconcile how authentic statistical practice could be translated into the introductory curriculum. Implications for GTA training are discussed.
期刊介绍:
SERJ is a peer-reviewed electronic journal of the International Association for Statistical Education (IASE) and the International Statistical Institute (ISI). SERJ is published twice a year and is free. SERJ aims to advance research-based knowledge that can help to improve the teaching, learning, and understanding of statistics or probability at all educational levels and in both formal (classroom-based) and informal (out-of-classroom) contexts. Such research may examine, for example, cognitive, motivational, attitudinal, curricular, teaching-related, technology-related, organizational, or societal factors and processes that are related to the development and understanding of stochastic knowledge. In addition, research may focus on how people use or apply statistical and probabilistic information and ideas, broadly viewed. The Journal encourages the submission of quality papers related to the above goals, such as reports of original research (both quantitative and qualitative), integrative and critical reviews of research literature, analyses of research-based theoretical and methodological models, and other types of papers described in full in the Guidelines for Authors. All papers are reviewed internally by an Associate Editor or Editor, and are blind-reviewed by at least two external referees. Contributions in English are recommended. Contributions in French and Spanish will also be considered. A submitted paper must not have been published before or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.