Statistical Table Activities in School Texts of Mathematics Actividades de Tablas Estadísticas en Textos Escolares de Matemáticas

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the activities of statistical tables of a collection of textbooks of mathematics. The textbook of mathematics is one of the resources used by teachers as a guide for teaching and source of activities for the student, hence the importance of researching books. A content analysis was carried out to classify the activities according to the type of table, the role that the student assumes when working with the table and the level of reading is required in each table interpretation activity. The results showedthat all the activities of tables in the primary are of one entry, while in secondary they are of two entries. As for the role of the student, it is fundamentally to interpret tables, although they are only in two grades. In primary, the activities demand the integral reading of the table, while in secondary, they must make partial and integral readings of the table. On the whole, it does not seem that the activities of statistical tables, of the analyzed collection, can help students to achieve an adequate understanding of this resource of statistics and thereby support their statistical training as citizens.