Interacções entre Pares e Estatística: Contributos para o estudo do conhecimento instrumental e relacional

Abstract

We intend to analyse how pupils mobilise statistical knowledge related to the concepts of mean and median. Several authors state that pupils learn to use knowledge in an instrumental way but are not capable of using it in a relational form, that is, they simply acquire computational competencies. On the other hand, recent research in the field of social genetic psychology and socio-cultural research has stressed the role social interactions play in pupils’ processes of appropriation and mobilisation of knowledge and competencies. The analysis of the response strategies of 136 dyads regarding a Statistics task (7th grade) showed that most pupils do not have difficulties in calculating the mean and the median. However, a qualitative analysis reveals that the reasons pupils use imply different levels of understanding of these two concepts: the mean is more frequently associated with a relational kind of knowledge than the median, as we can see from the excerpts of the interactions we present