Analysis of the Conceptions of Teachers Engaged in Developing the Statistical Learning Project Mobilised in a Focus Group

Resumo

Background: Teachers’ conceptions about teaching and learning guide their beliefs, knowledge, and attitudes that impact their understanding of the proposed curriculum. Studying their origins, functions, and changes in didactic contexts makes it possible to rethink teaching practices more effectively. Objectives: With this research, we hope to answer the following questions: (a) what conceptions do teachers mobilise when managing and developing a statistical learning project from the perspective of exploratory data analysis? (b) what changes in conceptions might result from this experience? Design: For that, we structured qualitative research of the case study type, with recordings of a focus group analysed with the technological support of the NVIVO software. Setting and participants: The research sample consisted of six elementary school teachers from three public schools in Rio Grande do Sul, members of a collaborative group of continuing education offered by a local public university, and selected from many publicised calls in the second semester of 2021. Data collection and analysis: Data were collected in a focus group carried out with teachers after their experience in continuing education, tutoring, and development of learning projects. Results: It was possible to identify changes between the teachers’ initial and final conceptions of statistics, mobilised during the development of the research projects. Conclusions: This allows us to suggest that the statistical learning project can favour changes in teachers’ statistical conceptions, which, in the light of our theoretical framework, are signs of learning.