Data habits of mind: exploring pre-service teachers’ engagement with multivariate data
ZDM - Mathematics Education, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
- Publication Type: Article / Article
- Publication Date: 2026
- Doi Number: 10.1007/s11858-026-01826-z
- Journal Name: ZDM - Mathematics Education
- Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, Aerospace Database, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, EBSCO Education Source, Education Abstracts, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest), Education Collection (ProQuest), Education Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Technology Collection (ProQuest)
- Keywords: Critical stance, Data habits of mind, Data science education, Pre-service teachers
- Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes
Abstract
This qualitative exploratory study investigates how pre-service teachers engage with complex, secondary datasets, focusing on data habits of mind and the development of a critical stance toward data. Participants were pre-service primary teachers who analysed an open dataset on young people’s media use in CODAP, as part of a statistics education module. Ten volunteers subsequently participated in stimulated recall interviews. Analysis was guided by an extended analytical framework based on statistical habits of mind, incorporating attention to data provenance and the adoption of a critical stance. Findings show that participants readily demonstrated habits familiar from traditional statistics, particularly attending to variation and using multiple visual and numerical representations. However, habits involving interrogation of measurement, sampling and data provenance were less common or typically emerged when participants were prompted during interviews. The analysis also revealed an emergent habit described as responsible engagement with data.