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

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

2. Presentation Overview • Background to the project EarlyStatistics • Project Aims and Objectives • Pedagogical framework • Project Activities • Concluding Remarks

3. Background to the Project

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 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)

10. The Socrates-Comenius Project EarlyStatistics

11. 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)

12. 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

13. 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 program’s activities and objectives

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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 other’s 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

17. Project Activities

18. 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

19. Development of knowledge base Technical design and implementation of the infrastructure and services for a dedicated knowledge base, implemented as a multilingual web portalthat 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;

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. Pilot delivery of professional development course Part 2 (weeks 5-8): Focus on children’s 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

25. 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 community’s shared purpose and encourage online dialogue and collaboration among members

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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