Difficulties in the construction of the box plot by future teachers of Basic Education in Chile

Abstract

This research aims at evaluating the ability that future Basic Education teachers with a major in mathematics have. To achieve this purpose, a qualitative methodology is followed, based on the interpretive paradigm, through a case study design and the content analysis method. The study was conducted in a group of 18 pedagogy students from a Chilean university, to whom a previously validated instrument was applied, with items related to the construction of this graph. The results suggest that the participants have difficulties in the construction of the graph, mainly by omitting descriptive elements and miscalculating the quartiles. These future teachers may not be able to meet the training standards required for maths teachers in Chile, which provides evidence of the need to improve teacher training in topics related to statistical graphs.