Future Mathematics and Statistics teachers' understanding of confidence intervals about the arithmetic average
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Abstract
Confidence intervals, like hypothesis tests, play a crucial role in statistical inference. Currently, this topic has been incorporated into the curriculum for mathematics teacher training and secondary school programs in Chile. In line with this, we investigate the understanding expressed by future Mathematics and Statistics teachers regarding confidence intervals for the mean. We have adopted a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive methodology for this purpose. To achieve this, we analyze the responses of 11 future Mathematics and Statistics teachers who were taking a course in statistical inference, using an open-response questionnaire with two activities related to confidence intervals for the mean and differences in means. The results reveal confusion in the calculation of confidence intervals for the mean, deterministic interpretations, and errors in determining Z or T quantiles. Nevertheless, most future teachers are aware of the assumptions underlying the construction of these confidence intervals. These findings are relevant both for future teachers and for mathematics teacher educators, given the limited research on this topic in the context of teacher education.
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