Utilizing Distance Education to Offer Web-based Professional Development in Statistics Education to Teachers Across Europe

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Utilizing Distance Education to Offer Web-based
Professional Development in Statistics Education
to Teachers Across Europe Efstathios
Mavrotheris Maria Meletiou-Mavrotheris Cyprus
College
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Presentation Overview

• Background to the project EarlyStatistics
• Project Aims and Objectives
• Pedagogical framework
• Project Activities
• Concluding Remarks

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Background to the Project
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Importance of Statistics Education

• Statistics education is becoming the focus of
  reformers in mathematics education as a vital
  aspect of the education of citizens in democratic
  societies (NCTM, 2000)
• The ability to analyze, interpret and communicate
  information from data are fundamental skills for
  daily life and effective citizenship
• Statistical concepts are occupying an
  increasingly important role in mathematics
  curricula
• Statistics already established as a vital part of
  the K-12 math curriculum in many countries

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Poor Teacher Training in Statistics

• Statistics introduced into mainstream mathematics
  curricula without adequate attention to teacher
  professional development
• Substantial evidence of poor understanding and
  insufficient preparation to teach statistical
  concepts among pre-service and practicing
  teachers
• Focus of instruction on the procedural aspects of
  statistics, and not on conceptual understanding
  (Nicholson Darnton, 2003 Watson, 2001)
• Intuitions and mindset about data systematically
  ignored in the mathematics classroom

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Traditional Approaches to Teacher Professional
Development

• Professional isolation of teachers
• Limited opportunities for professional
  development
• Very limited opportunities for collegial
  interactions and exchanges
• Individualistic approaches to teacher
  professional development

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Need for New Approaches to Teacher Professional
Development

• Grown satisfaction with traditional approaches to
  teacher professional development
• Recognition of need for adopting new approaches
  to produce real changes in classroom practices
• New pedagogical models that foster a culture of
  sharing and sustained support for teachers
• Opportunities for teachers to engage in
  collaborative learning communities where they can
  exchange ideas with other teachers and garner
  support as they try new strategies in their
  classrooms (Cochran-Smith Lytle, 1999)

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WWW Opening New Possibilities for Professional
Development

• Web-based training opens up new possibilities for
  communication and collaboration among teachers
• Can overcome restrictions of shrinking resources
  and geographical locations and offer, in a
  cost-effective and non-disruptive way, high
  quality collaborative learning experiences to
  teachers
• Possible for teachers in different countries to
  collaborate and build communities of practice in
  social constructivist learning environments

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Communities of Practice

• A construct grounded in an anthropological
  perspective that examines how adults learn
  through social practices (Gray, 2004)
• Consists of a group of individuals with a shared
  domain of expertise, who engage in a process of
  collective learning about practices that matter
  to them (Wenger, 1998 Gray, 2004)
• Collaborative and participatory communities of
  teachers have been shown to act as vehicles that
  promote teacher learning and development (Tinker
  Haavind, 1996)

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The Socrates-Comenius Project EarlyStatistics
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EarlyStatistics Project Overview

• A 3-year project (Oct. 2005-Sept. 2008) funded by
  the EU under the Socrates-Comenius action
• Consortium comprised of five partner institutions
  in four EU countries Cyprus, Greece, Norway,
  Spain
• Overall aim Enhance development of early
  statistical reasoning of European children by
  facilitating intercultural professional
  development of their teachers using exemplary
  web-based educational tools and resources
• Project will harness the power of the Internet to
  provide European teachers with access to a wide
  array of colleagues, discussions, and resources
  eluding them in their workplace (Zern, 2002)

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EarlyStatistics Project Overview

• Design of program based on the belief that
  learning as part of a community of practice can
  provide a useful model for teacher professional
  development
• Teachers will form a virtual community of
  practice that will help them improve their PCK of
  statistics by exchanging experiences, ideas, and
  resources and relating them to their teaching
  practices
• Project will support educationally useful
  human-computer interactions through innovative
  tools and resources, but its focus will be on
  exploiting technology to support human-human
  interactions
• Will promote intercultural awareness and exchange
  of experiences and ideas among European teachers

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Project Aims and Objectives

• Developing and pilot testing an intercultural
  online professional development course in
  statistics education for elementary and middle
  school teachers based on current pedagogical
  methodologies (collaboration, statistical
  investigation, exploration with online
  interactive problem-solving activities)
• Conducting a teaching intervention into the
  statistics classrooms of teachers attending the
  pilot professional development course
• Developing a multilingual knowledge base to
  support and promote the programs activities and
  objectives

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Project Aims and Objectives

• Initializing networking among teachers across
  Europe by building an online community for the
  exchange of ideas, tools, and instructional
  practices relating to statistics education.
  Long-term objective to sustain and expand this
  community into a pan-European network of
  communication
• Developing a pedagogical framework for the
  effective delivery of high-quality online teacher
  professional development in statistics education
  through the establishment of a virtual community
  of practice

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Pedagogical Approach

• Program design guided by contemporary visions of
  web-based instruction and computer-mediated
  communication which support more participatory
  models of education
• Distance education environment designed as a
  framework for flexible learning, regarding
  teachers as the main agents of their professional
  development, supported by an environment rich in
  challenges and interactions
• Adoption of learning and community rather than
  instructional models of professional
  development
• Emphasis on promoting interactive learning and
  cross-cultural exchange of experiences and ideas

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Pedagogical Approach (cont.)

• Forming of an online community of practice that
  will support the sharing of multiple,
  multinational perspectives, and will shape not
  only teachers identity as practitioners, but
  also the identity of the practice itself (Gray,
  2004)
• Teachers will learn together about statistics by
  engaging in joint activities and discussions,
  helping each other, and sharing information
• Use of strategies (e.g. open-ended
  investigations, simulations, visualizations,
  collaboration and reflection on each others
  ideas) that will serve as a model to the
  participating teachers as to kind of learning
  situations, technologies and curricula they
  should employ in their own classrooms

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Project Activities
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Development of course content

• Development, using contemporary technological and
  web-based resources, of curricular and
  instructional materials on statistics for
  elementary and middle school teachers and
  students
• Central to the development of the material the
  functional integration of technology with
  existing core curricular ideas
• Integration of new types of tools (e.g. the
  dynamic statistics software Fathom and
  Tinkerplots), which provide students with the
  opportunity to model and investigate real world
  problems of statistics
• Material produced in partners national languages
  (Greek, Norwegian, Spanish), as well as in
  English

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Development of knowledge base

• Technical design and implementation of the
  infrastructure and services for a dedicated
  knowledge base, implemented as a multilingual web
  portal that will support the project activities
  and outputs. Knowledge base will contain
• A hypertextbook with the material, resources, and
  activities of the professional development
  course
• Technologically enhanced curricular and
  instructional materials for the teaching and
  learning of statistics in elementary and middle
  school
• Reports and articles developed through the
  project
• Links to statistics education resources
  available on the Internet

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Development of knowledge base

• A Video Case Library containing segments of real
  teaching episodes, obtained in the classrooms of
  the teachers participating in the project,
  representing the landscape of practice in
  statistics instruction in Europe
• A database containing Student Work Samples
  developed through contributions of participating
  teachers, providing examples of good practice in
  European schools
• Tools for professional dialogue and support (e.g.
  discussion forums, chat rooms, application
  sharing etc.)
• Aim to build an open knowledge-building and
  sharing environment that will foster sustained
  participation and will allow teachers to take an
  active role and ownership for the creation of
  their community

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Pilot delivery of professional development course

• During final year of project, course will be
  pilot tested with a group of 25-30 teachers from
  the partner countries, and revised based on
  feedback received from pilot testing
• Delivered through text, illustrations,
  animations, audio/video, technology-rich
  interactive problem-solving activities, and
  multilingual interfaces
• Instructional content and services on the
  dedicated knowledge base will be utilized for
  teaching, support and coordination purposes
• Course material also available in CD/DVD format
  to overcome potential bandwidth limitations

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Pilot delivery of professional development course

• Course duration around 13 weeks.
• Largest portion of course delivered
  asynchronously
• Some synchronous delivery through use of
  technologies such as digital blackboards,
  audio/video streaming, and videoconferencing
• One-way informational postings such as articles
  and videos will serve as objects for supporting
  interaction
• Course will be facilitated by consortium members
  with expertise in statistics education. Their
  role will be to guide discussions, encourage
  full, thoughtful involvement of all participants,
  and provide feedback

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Pilot delivery of professional development course

• Teachers will work according to a loose schedule
• Each week will typically involve a range of
  activities, readings and contributions to
  discussion, as well as completion of group
  assignments. Online moderated discussions will
  allow teachers to share content, ideas, and
  instructional strategies
• Course will be made of three parts
• Part 1 (weeks 1-4) Emphasis on enriching the
  participants content knowledge of statistics by
  exposing them to similar kinds of learning
  situations, technologies, and curricula to those
  they should employ in their own classrooms

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Pilot delivery of professional development course
Part 2 (weeks 5-8) Focus on childrens
learning. Exploring of a broad range of topics of
interest to the statistics teacher (e.g.
computer-supported teaching, role of statistics
in the national and European mathematics
curricula, common student misconceptions, etc.)
Part 3 (weeks 9-13) Undertaking of a teaching
experiment. Teachers will customize and expand
upon provided materials, and apply them in their
own classrooms with the support of the design
team. They will report on their experiences to
the other teachers in their group, and will also
provide samples of their students work for group
reflection and evaluation. Teachers will exchange
insights as to how to further improve their
practices and increase their students
achievement
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Development of pedagogical framework

• Developed jointly by the pedagogical and
  technical experts in the project team, framework
  will provide expert and practitioner
  recommendations for effective delivery of online
  professional development to teachers of
  statistics through the establishment of a virtual
  community of practice
• Will incorporate both pedagogical and technical
  considerations regarding delivery of online
  professional development (e.g. limitations in
  equipment, software, and network bandwidth)
• Focus will be on the development of usable
  technological structures that support the
  communitys shared purpose and encourage online
  dialogue and collaboration among members

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Concluding Remarks

• One of the most important factors in any
  educational change is the change in teaching
  practices
• Taking into account best practices in statistics
  education, adult education, and distance
  learning, EarlyStatistics aims to help European
  teachers improve their instructional practices in
  statistics through exposure to exemplary learning
  methodologies and resources, intercultural
  awareness, and exchange of experiences
• Teachers will be able to connect and learn from
  each other in ways that would not have been
  possible in a more traditional, face-to-face
  professional development program

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Concluding Remarks

• In addition to teachers, project outputs and
  services will also benefit other target groups
• Students will benefit from improved curricula and
  teaching practices
• Academic experts and material developers will get
  more sensitized to the needs of statistics
  teachers in different countries, supporting the
  development of new methodologies and materials
• National and transnational education authorities
  responsible for setting mathematics curricula
  will get useful information regarding new
  developments in statistics education

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Concluding Remarks

• Teacher training institutions will gain a clearer
  understanding of the issues facing statistics
  teaching and learning and will be able to utilize
  the project outputs for further improvement of
  their teacher preparation programs
• Online professional development designers will
  benefit from access to the pedagogical framework
  for the effective delivery of high-quality online
  professional development to mathematics teachers,
  which could also act as a model for professional
  development in other content areas
• The industry and community in general will
  benefit from a statistically literate society