Abstract:

Teaching statistics requires from the teacher a comprehensive knowledge that allows him to manage the curriculum in order to obtain meaningful learning in the students, leaving the teacher to develop the various professional components. It is from an early age that children have to make decisions in a conscious and democratic way, being responsible for them, which consequently develops statistical literacy in them. In the Media, several graphic representations are published, the most frequent being bar graphs. Thus, it is crucial that the teacher, in his practice, promotes the development of students' statistical reasoning and critical spirit, making them aware, responsible and critical citizens in the face of the information available. This work presents a proposal applicable in the classroom, according to the curricular objectives of the 3rd year of Basic Education in Portugal (children from 7 to 8 years old), that allows teachers to have the perception of the impact that the statistical knowledge to teach can have in the construction of bar graphs developed by their students. Results available in the literature, in similar studies, refer that the professional development of the teacher in terms of the statistical knowledge to teach can improve the students' skills and competencies needed to make bar graphs e.g. [1-3].

References:
[1] Joan Garfield (1993) Teaching Statistics Using Small-Group Cooperative Learning, Journal of Statistics Education, 1:1, DOI:10.1080/10691898.1993.11910455
[2] Ball, D. L., Thames, M. H., & Phelps, G. (2008). Content knowledge for teaching: What makes it special? Journal of Teacher Education, 59 (5), 389-407.
[3] Burgess, T. (2009). Teacher knowledge and statistics: What types of knowledge are used in the primary classroom? The Mathematics Enthusiast, 6 (1 & 2), 3-24.

Keywords:

Bar graphs, Statistics, Professional development.