An Analysis of Pre-service Mathematics Teachers’ Collaborative Discussions on Key Elements of Distribution

This study focused on distribution, which is emphasized as a big idea in statistics education, and aimed to draw implications for pre-service teacher education in statistics by analyzing how pre-service mathematics teachers connected meanings among the key elements of distribution during a collaborative discussion process in which they designed a lesson comparing group distributions using box plots. First, based on prior research, center, spread, and shape were set as the key elements of distribution, and after investigating the level of understanding of the pre-service teachers, small groups were formed with members of different levels of understanding. Then, each group engaged in collaborative discussions on lesson design, and the patterns of connection among the key elements of distribution revealed in the process were analyzed. As a result, the group in which the elements of distribution were actively connected showed a deepened level of understanding, while the group with limited connections among the elements also showed limited development in understanding. Based on these findings, the study presented implications for statistics education for pre-service teachers.