The challenges of teachers in introducing the concept of central tendency for junior mathematics students Rita Desfitri (a*)
a) Mathematics Education Department, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Universitas Bung Hatta. Jalan Sumatera Ulakkarang, Padang 25133, Indonesia
*rdesfitri[at]bunghatta.ac.id
Abstract
Probability and Statistics are encountered with regularity in daily life. One of the common statistical measurements encountered by students is the central tendencies. However, in most junior mathematics classes, it was found that many teachers introduced the central tendencies are more focused on the calculation of various averages rather than the meaning and the use of each . This makes students know namely the mean, median, and mode without having enough understanding what really differences between them. Students did not aware of what particular measure is needed to use and why it is chosen in light of real-life problems involved. This paper is aimed to discuss about what teachers need to consider when introducing the three central tendencies, so that students are aware of the differences of those, and what situations each of them is best to used. This paper also offers some examples of problems to be given to students to make them understand not only how to count the mean, median, and mode, but also to analyze why particular measure is used to highlight the set of data when informing some certain cases
