In this paper,
context has multiple meanings. First, it may refer to the macro-level environment, situation or circumstances outside the lecture-theatre or classroom seen as a nested set of societal, cultural, historical and institutional influences on the teaching and learning of statistics. Second, the macro-level
context influences and gives meaning to what is happening at the micro-level
context, within the lecture theatre where the lecturer and students interact with the artifacts (e.g. lecturer discourse, slides, statistical techniques, problems, software, other people). At the micro-level, the statistical tasks, problems or examples may be set in a
context-scenario. The lecturer’s teaching of statistics in the lecture theatre takes intellectual and affective meaning from all the separate
contexts in which it is intertwined to result in meaningful learning by the students, who are also actively engaged in the activity. In summary,
context is about the relations between the teaching and learning of statistics within the environment of the lecture theatre, at the micro-level and the influences on these relationships from outside the lecture theatre, at the macro-level.
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Context as Action in the Teaching of Statistical Concepts: An Activity Theory Perspective