Investigating Mathematics Teacher Education Students’ Use of TinkerPlots to Support Statistical Reasoning

This case study investigates how mathematics teacher education students develop statistical reasoning about the concept of center within a Statistical Reasoning Learning Environment using TinkerPlots. The researchers developed and implemented instructional tasks to foster reasoning about measures of central tendency and their interplay with data variability and distribution. The study involved 12 mathematics teacher education students from a public university. Through two activities, students explored real-world datasets and used TinkerPlots to visualize, analyze, and discuss statistical ideas. Results indicated that technology integration enhanced understanding of key statistical ideas of center, including the effects of extreme values on central measures and the importance of considering center and spread together. While students demonstrated proficiency in some areas, challenges persisted, particularly regarding interpreting the median and its relationship to data distribution. The findings of this study highlight the potential of TinkerPlots to deepen statistical reasoning regarding the idea of the center and recommend an instructional pathway. It provides insights to optimize technology-integrated learning environments in statistics education.