The Influence of Decisions Planning an Out-of-Class Academic Festival on Statistics Teaching Practices

Abstract

Some researchers in mathematics education have studied the decisions professors make during classroom context activities. These decisions are explained by several factors: 1) how professors conceive the structure of mathematics; 2) what they know about the mathematical content; and, 3) what they consider the best didactic strategies to improve students' learning. Based on these studies, this article explores how two professors’ decisions, made beyond classroom contexts, influence their teaching practice. Two professors, who were teaching the same probability course, participated in this study. We apply Wenger’s theory of Communities of Practice to analyze such influence in terms of the way these professors participated in, and reified, their out-of-classroom decisions. This study allowed us to perceive that decisions taken at faculty meetings are not always relevant to students’ understanding of concepts, however, it did not enlighten us as to the process that led the professors to make their decisions.

Keywords

• communities of practice
• instructors’ meetings
• statistics teaching practice
• in-class decision
• professors’ decisions