A comparative analysis of Brazilian and American environments related to the statistics and probability of curricular implementation in basic education

• Grant number: 07/03114-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - New Frontiers
• Start date: January 03, 2008
• End date: December 06, 2008
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Education - Educational Teaching and Learning
• Principal Investigator: Celi Aparecida Espasandin Lopes
• Grantee: Celi Aparecida Espasandin Lopes
• Host Investigator: Denise Anne Spangler Mewborn
• Host Institution: Pró-Reitoria de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa. Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul (UNICSUL). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Georgia, Athens (UGA), United States

Abstract

The aim of this project is to analyze the process of curricular implementation of statistics and probability in mathematics classes of Elementary and High School in a Brazilian school and in an American one, through a comparison of the classes and of the didactic materials used in the two different contexts. From this analysis, it intends to promote the organization of research lines in order to establish statistical education in Elementary and High Scholl as a research subject, what could enable the formation of researchers on the teaching and learning process of combinatory analysis, probability and statistics. As well, it intends to discuss the initial and the continuous formation of teachers who develop these topics in their classes and to verify the influences of these processes in their professional development. This research is essentially qualitative and interpretative and the analysis of the questionnaires applied to the students has just a qualitative treatment. We will build two cases, one regarding the Brazilian school and another the American one, which will be afterwards compared and contrasted. With these methodological procedures, we expect to produce a double impact: one in the researchers' formation and in the researches on Mathematical and Statistical Education, another in the elaboration of curriculums for Elementary and High Scholl and for the courses of initial and continuous formation of teachers who teach Mathematics in the differtent educational levels. (AU)