Eliciting and Deciphering Mathematics Teachers’ Knowledge in Statistical Thinking, Statistical Teaching, and Statistical Technology

Statistically skilled workers are highly demanded in today's world, which means we need high-quality statistics education. There has been a continuously increased enrollment of statistics students. At the college level, introductory statistics courses are typically taught by professors who often hold a strong qualification in mathematics but may lack formal training in statistics education and statistical analysis. Existing literature claims that a unique way of thinking--statistical thinking or reasoning--is essential when teaching statistics, especially at the introductory level. To elaborate and expand on the issue of statistical thinking, a qualitative study was conducted on 15 mathematics teachers from a local community college to discuss differences between statistics and mathematics as academic disciplines and exemplify two types of thinking--statistical thinking and mathematical thinking--among mathematics teachers who teach college-level introductory statistics. Additionally, the study also inspected mathematics teachers' pedagogical ideas influenced by each type of thinking, some of which were recognized as "pedagogically powerful ideas" that transcend students' conceptua