Abstract:
Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) comprises subject matter, content knowledge, instructional skills and
strategies, conceptions in statistics teaching, and learners’ learning difficulties. This study focuses on the instructional skills
and strategies used for teaching statistics during PCK development. Research findings show that these skills and strategies are
not always apparent. A clear understanding of these skills and strategies, however, would be useful for mathematics teacher
education programmes. Of the six mathematics teachers initially chosen because of their school’s performance over two years
in the senior certificate examination in mathematics, four were selected from the results of a conceptual knowledge exercise
(CKE) in statistics for this study, which adopted a qualitative research method. The data on teachers’ pedagogical knowledge
were collected through a teacher CKE, concept mapping, lesson observation, questionnaire, video recording, teachers’ written
reports and document analysis. The results indicate that competent mathematics teachers used topic-specific instructional skills
and strategies (PCK) in statistics teaching. The implications for mathematics teacher education programmes are also discussed.
