Comprensión de la cultura estadística (alfabetización estadística): Sobre el conocimiento de contextos y modelos

III Congreso Internacional Virtual de Educación Estadística (CIVEEST), 21-24 febrero de 2019. [www.ugr.es/local/fqm126/civeest.html]This paper examines challenges facing the promotion of statistical literacy, and better understanding of civic statistics. It focuses on one key notion of "context knowledge" ,which is part of the knowledge bases needed for statistical literacy. The paper examines the notion of "meaningful and important" contexts that are worthy of attention when teaching for statistical literacy, discusses how to bring such contexts into the classroom and make sure students understand them, and what questions or tasks about meaningful and important contexts are suitable or worthy to ask in the classroom. In addition, the paper briefly examines issues related to notions of "models" and "modeling," and how they relate to context knowledge. Based on the analysis offered, some implications and recommendations are discussed.Este documento examina los desafíos de la cultura estadística (alfabetización estadística) y de una mejor comprensión de las estadísticas cívicas. Se centra en una de las bases de conocimiento necesarias para la alfabetización estadística. El trabajo examina la noción de contextos significativos e importantes, que merecen la atención cuando se enseña para conseguir la cultura estadística, discute cómo llevar estos contextos a la clase y asegurar que los estudiantes los comprenden y qué preguntas o tareas sobre contextos significativos e importantes se pueden considerar o merece la pena llevar a la clase. Además, el documento examina brevemente cuestiones relacionadas con las nociones de "modelo" y "modelización", y cómo se relacionan con el conocimiento del contexto. Con base en el análisis ofrecido, se discuten algunas implicaciones y recomendaciones

Welcome to the era of vague news : A study of the demands of statistical and mathematical products in the COVID-19 pandemic media

In this article, we report on a typology of the demands of statistical and mathematical products (StaMPs) embedded in media items related to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The typology emerged from a content analysis of a large purposive sample of diverse media items selected from digital news sources based in four countries. The findings encompass nine categories of StaMPs: (1) descriptive quantitative information, (2) models, predictions, causality and risk, (3) representations and displays, (4) data quality and strength of evidence, (5) demographics and comparative thinking, (6) heterogeneity and contextual factors, (7) literacy and language demands, (8) multiple information sources, and (9) critical demands. We illustrate these categories via selected media items, substantiate them through relevant research literature, and point to categories that encompass new or enhanced types of demands. Our findings offer insights into the rich set of capabilities that citizens (including both young people and adults) must possess in order to engage these mass media demands, critically analyze statistical and mathematical information in the media, evaluate the meaning and credibility of news reports, understand public policies, and make evidenced-informed judgments. Our conclusions point to the need to revise current curricular frameworks and conceptual models (e.g., regarding statistical and probability literacy, adult numeracy), to better incorporate notions such as blended knowledge, vagueness, risk, strength of evidence, and criticality. Furthermore, more attention is needed to the literacy and language demands of media items involving statistical and mathematical information. Implications for further research and educational practice are discussed

Empowerment Potential of Social Work Techniques among Practitioners in Israel and the USA

Even though empowerment is an intervention approach that occupies an important place in social work, social workers’ perceptions of intervention techniques that may empower their clients have not been examined. This paper reports the findings of a pilot study on the perceptions of social workers regarding the empowerment potential of various intervention techniques. Data were collected on convenience samples of social workers in Israel and the USA. The findings indicate that the social workers in the two countries broadly agree on the high empowerment potential of techniques aimed at helping clients to change their behaviors so as to make their conduct more functional and to augment their control over their lives but have differing perceptions regarding the empowerment potential of other approaches, including therapeutic approaches, aspects of service delivery, and means of providing support. Further study is recommended to better understand the relationship between social workers’ perceptions of the empowerment potential of different approaches and techniques and their cultural backgrounds

Indigenous Cognition? Review of J.W. Berry, S.H. Irvine, E.B. Hunt (Eds.), \u3cem\u3eIndigenous Cognition: Functioning in Cultural Context\u3c/em\u3e

What is known about the cognitive functions of other peoples that could enable extant psychology to become more comprehensive, to attain a \u27universal\u27 cognitive psychology? This question was the focus of a 1986 NATO workshop held at Queen\u27s University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) whose working theme was indigenous cognition and models of information processing. The primary goal of the present volume, which contains 13 papers, is to bring together evidence from studies of cognition in those populations that have remained well outside industrialised society: the hunting people, the nomads, and the peasants of the contemporary world (p. 2). The volume begins wtih a general section that includes papers dealing primarily with theoretical concerns in cross-cultural cognitive psychology and continues with four studies among African populations and with three among Native American populations

The connections between citizenship education and mathematics education - Survey Paper

The connections between citizenship education and mathematics education have been the focus of theoretical development and attention by educators interested in issues of justice, equity, power, criticality, and citizen engagement with societal issues, across schools, universities, and adult education levels. In this survey article, we contribute to new knowledge in the field by identifying and describing three interconnected layers of influence on the praxis of teaching and learning: (1) perspectives from citizenship education and mathematics education (e.g., kinds of citizenship, critical thinking in mathematics education); (2) institutional factors (e.g., policy, curricula, implementation within education systems); and (3) emerging influences (e.g., changing skill demands, innovations from communities of practice). In exploring the connections between citizenship education and mathematics education, we go beyond extant theory development and point to influences such as global disruptions, societal changes, systemic structures at the national and local levels, messaging in the media, and the role of teachers and learners. The holistic analysis of these influences enables identification of tensions and dilemmas, and issues of identity, autonomy, adoption, and systemic change. Together these point to multiple implications for educators, policy makers, and researchers aiming to enable informed and engaged citizens

Developing official statistics literacy : a proposed model and implications

This paper points to a gap in the literature regarding the lack of a widely accepted conceptual framework about the knowledge bases that adults at large and non-specialists need in order to be critically aware of social and economic phenomena by understanding key aspects of official statistics. This negatively affects work by official statistics providers and statistics educators. We thus propose a model encompassing six key knowledge elements needed for official statistics literacy and highlight its implications. We emphasize the need to develop a digital textbook about official statistics literacy as well as a modular online course, and point to other directions official statistics providers and statistics educators could take

PIAAC Numeracy Task Complexity Schema: Factors that impact on item difficulty

This paper describes some lessons learned from international adult numeracy assessments that can help in understanding the challenges that people, including both adults and school students, have when solving numeracy tasks and their levels of performance on functional mathematical problems. The paper presents a theoretical schema of five factors that predict, separately and in interaction, the complexity or level of difficulty of mathematically-related assessment tasks, including tasks that incorporate texts and require literacy or reading skills, which are very common in adults\u27 lives. The model was originally developed as part of the development of the Adult Literacy and LifeSkills survey in the mid \u2790s, but later adapted and effectively used within the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), a.k.a. OECD Survey of Adult Skills. The five complexity factors described in the model are grouped into two factors addressing mainly textual aspects of tasks, and three factors addressing the mathematical aspects of tasks. These factors can assist test developers, researchers and educators in predicting task difficulty and in targeting the development of items and tasks to more efficiently cover the range of student performance and skill levels

Narrativa de aula de uma professora sobre a investigação estatística

Este texto analisa a narrativa de aula de uma professora que ensina Matemática nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental e que participa de um grupo que desenvolve uma pesquisa colaborativa, no âmbito do Projeto Observatório da Educação, com o objetivo de investigar os letramentos matemáticos escolares e as práticas de formação docente. Em sua narrativa, a professora descreve o processo de investigação estatística desenvolvido com uma turma de 1º ano. A análise traz indícios de aprendizagens docente, relativos ao letramento estatístico das crianças - em particular, no que se refere ao desenvolvimento da linguagem gráfica - , e revela a apropriação de práticas de letramento pela professora