Mathematics Pre-service Teachers’ Metaphorical Perceptions about Statistics in Turkey

Abstract

The research is aimed to reveal the thoughts the elementary mathematics pre-service teachers about "Statistics" concept through metaphors. A total of 62 mathematics pre-service teachers, taking statistics courses at a public university in Turkey in the spring semester of 2012-2013 academic year, participated in this qualitative research. The data of the research was obtained by having pre-service teachers answer the phrase of "Statistics is like…because…". The data gathered from pre- service teachers have been analyzed using descriptive statistics and content analysis method. Research results revealed 32 metaphors and 3 categories about statistics.