Abstract

ALPIZAR VARGAS, Marianela; CHAVARRIA OVIEDO, Laura  and  OVIEDO RODRIGUEZ, Katalina. Perceptions towards Statistics and Probability of Primary School Teachers from the Region of Heredia. Rev. Actual. Investig. Educ [online]. 2015, vol.15, n.1, pp.187-210. ISSN 1409-4703.

In Costa Rica, the topics of statistics and probability have been included in the Basic General Education curricula of the Ministry of Public Education, since 1995. However, the poor academic formation that elementary school educators have received causes them to develop unfavorable attitudes towards these topics. This paper presents results of a study that was conducted with 20 teachers during a training process on Teaching Probability and Statistics in the Regional Directorate of Heredia in the 2011. Data was collected through questionnaires. The purpose of this article was to describe the perception that this group of in-service elementary school teachers, of the Regional Directorate of Heredia, has in relation to teaching and learning of topics of statistics and probability. Although these teachers are aware that statistics and probability must be taught since elementary school, some of them are afraid to face them and even have made the decision to leave them out of the curriculum motivated by their lack of confidence in their own capacity to teach such complex topics, others not taught them in their classes because lack of time or because of distrust in its reliability. One of the main conclusions of this study is that Universities should modify their curriculum to adapt it to the current requirements and also they should offer training processes, such as workshops, for teachers.

Keywords : statistics; probability; primary education; teachers; continuing education; Costa Rica.

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