Effects of a training intervention on secondary school teachers’ attitudes toward statistics

Abstract

In today’s data-driven society, strong statistical literacy is essential for all citizens. Within the educational context, teachers play a crucial role in developing students’ statistical competencies. However, pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward statistics can impact how they approach its instruction. This study examines changes in future teachers’ attitudes toward statistics before and after participating in a training intervention aimed at enhancing statistical literacy. An attitude questionnaire was administered to 41 pre-service secondary school teachers from two Chilean universities, both before and after the training intervention. Although the results showed an overall increase in mean scores after the training, this change was not statistically significant. Nevertheless, improvements were observed in pre-service teachers’ perceptions of statistics as a fundamental tool for civic education, their ability to interpret statistical representations in the media, and their enjoyment of problem-solving. These results suggest that attitudes toward statistics could be positively influenced through targeted educational interventions, although the study’s conclusions are limited by the relatively small sample size.