Measures of center have a central role in statistics education. There, however, is not much research on textbook analysis on measures of center, especially at the international level, which is crucial to keep up with the changes in a data-driven globalised world. This study aimed to investigate how selected school mathematics textbooks of Australia and Turkey present the concepts of measures of center to support students’ learning. The content analysis was based on three dimensions: (1) the organization and sequence of the concepts of measures of center across grades, (2) conceptualization of measures of center from mathematical and statistical aspects, and (3) the use of context, visual displays, and technological tools regarding measures of center. The first major finding was that the order of presentation of concepts was different in the two countries’ selected textbooks. Selected textbooks of both countries introduced measures of center formally rather than starting with an understanding of clump notion (informal understanding of measures of center). The second major finding was that both countries’ textbooks focus more on the mathematical aspect of measures of center. Selected Australian textbooks also focus more on the statistical aspect of measures of center than those of Turkey. The third major finding was that the use of context, visual displays, and technological tools also differ. Australian textbooks often used a context with research scenarios about daily life, used a technological package, and related measures of center with a variety of graphs. Findings contribute to our understanding of the differences among countries with different backgrounds in statistics education, pointing to the ways of developing curriculum materials such as textbooks.

This study aimed to explore how prospective middle school mathematics teachers think critically about a newspaper article that reported the findings of a statistical research. Participants of the study were four fourth-year students enrolled at the mathematics teacher education program of a public university. To investigate the research question of the study, case study method was employed. Indepth semi-structured interviews were done to examine participants" critical thinking processes. The findings of the study indicated that prospective mathematics teachers made use of a variety of critical thinking processes (comprehending, making connections, inferring ideas, critiquing, and selfreflecting) and provided clues about the interrelated nature of these processes. This study would shed light on the characterization of critical thinking in the context of statistical literacy by suggesting a blended framework. It also suggests the design of the tasks including media articles to promote both statistical literacy and critical thinking in statistics education courses for prospective mathematics teachers.

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