CONCEPT MAPPING FOR THE TEACHING OF STATISTICS IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: RESULTS OF A CLASS EXPERIMENT IN ITALY1

The present work4 describes the results of a study carried out in the 1999-2000 school year in primary schools of 5 Italian provinces, which involved 145 teachers and more than 2000 pupils aged 6-10. Teaching units adopted by teachers were based on Data Oriented Approach, according to two distinct teaching strategies. One regarded the usual teaching model aiming at objectives, and the other concentrated on the learning of relationships between concepts by using a conceptual map. All the teachers involved attended a preliminary training course on statistics, pedagogy and theory of learning. Basic statistical concepts and their relationships were learnt through semi-structured interviews in class. Concept mapping gave interesting results, especially with regards to permanent acquisition of concepts. Comparison with concepts pupils had before the teaching of statistics in class and after, was carried out with entrance and exit cognitive maps.