Techniques and Strategies in Teaching Statistics and Probability among Senior High School Students of Camp Vicente Lim Integrated School

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The teaching and learning aspects in statistics instruction have caught great and growing attention in the past decades. Statistics is widely recognized as one of the most important quantitative subjects in a school's curriculum but also known to be very challenging because they serve students with varying experiences and capabilities. More so, many of them have had negative experiences and unfavorable attitudes towards learning statistics and mathematics. The aforementioned contexts motivated the researchers to investigate contemporary techniques and strategies of the teachers in teaching statistics with the end view of drawing out implications which will help students improve their learning in statistics.

METHODS

This research utilized a descriptive -correlational research design to assess the teaching techniques and strategies of the Statistics teachers and its relationship to the Statistics performance of the students. The self -constructed questionnaire was used to assess the teaching techniques and strategies while content analysis was used to identify the performance of the students. The 136 SHS students who were drawn randomly served as the respondents of the study. Frequency, percentage, weighted mean, and Pearson's r were employed in statistical analysis.

RESULTS

The results disclosed that in terms of strategies the Statistics teachers rarely integrate schemes for assessment of statistical thinking and literacy into the curriculum and they rarely shift the focus of the course to tasks of a practical nature. Meanwhile, they were found to use often problem-based learning strategies giving students open-ended problems and taking the role of facilitator in the learning process. As to teaching techniques, teachers utilized to the full extent collaborative and active learning strategies while developing the use of technology and online resources were at a moderate extent. The students' performance in Statistics was satisfactory. Moreover, a significant relationship between the teaching techniques and strategies and academic performance of the students was noted.

DISCUSSIONS

It can be inferred based on the results that teachers may use strategies such as the integration of media reports and newspapers articles to assess students' ability to interpretive statistical thinking. As to techniques, teachers may ask students to explain terminology and to interpret the statistical results in everyday words. They may be asked to present new material with the use of statistical software.