Teaching and Learning the Notion of Normal Distribution Using a Digital Resource

Abstract

This study investigates the support provided using technology for learning the notion of normal distribution in high school students through the implementation of a teaching experiment. A strategy was designed and implemented using Fathom software as the main teaching resource. Data analysis focused on the role of the use of technology in student learning and the simulation process, considering the initial session. The conceptual framework was based on the documentational approach to didactics, whose perspective is to study the teacher’s use and design of resources in his teaching practice. Likewise, the results of the teaching experiment, whose objective was to introduce high school students to the notion of normal distribution by taking advantage of the repeated sampling resource using the Fathom software, are presented. The results show that the collaborative aspect of the lesson study methodology allowed professors to reflect and become aware of how they usually use the resources in their regular practice and thus contribute to improving their teaching activity. Evidence is provided on how students initiate a change in their reasoning to identify the probability of data collection from the simulation of problems with the software.