Combining Professional Development with Resource Development: Cooperative Design of Integrated Technology Lessons in Statistics

Many mathematics teachers do not feel well prepared to teach statistical concepts and analytical methods to their students, nor do they feel that they have the time to integrate technological resources into their lessons. In this paper, we present the work done at the Summer Statistics, Technology, and Teaching (SummerSTaT) program for secondary mathematics teachers hosted at Utah State University, in which participants created lessons that made use of Web-based applets to enhance student understanding. Involving teachers directly in the development of teaching resources that incorporate Internet-based technologies and emphasize student understanding ensures that the materials are relevant and usable. Here we summarize and evaluate the workshop organization and content and also provide a summary of the teachers’ preliminary lessons.