scholarly journals THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATISTICAL LITERACY AT SCHOOL

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-201
Author(s):  
ROSEMARY CALLINGHAM ◽  
JANE M. WATSON
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
School Students ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Middle Years ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Statistics And Probability ◽  
Different Parts

Statistical literacy increasingly is considered an important outcome of schooling. There is little information, however, about appropriate expectations of students at different stages of schooling. Some progress towards this goal was made by Watson and Callingham (2005), who identified an empirical 6-level hierarchy of statistical literacy and the distribution of middle school students across the levels, using archived data from 1993-2000. There is interest in reconsidering these outcomes a decade later, during which statistics and probability has become a recognised strand of the Australian mathematics curriculum. Using a new data-set of over 7000 student responses from middle-years students in different parts of Australia during the period 2007-2009, the nature of the hierarchy was confirmed. Longitudinal analysis identified how students performed across time against the hierarchy. Suggestions are made for systems and teachers about realistic expectations for middle-years students, and possible curriculum challenges. First published May 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

scholarly journals PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF MATHEMATICS TEACHERS IMPLEMENTING PROBABILISTIC SIMULATIONS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOMS

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-92
Author(s):  
LEANDRO DE OLIVEIRA SOUZA ◽  
CELI ESPASANDIN LOPES ◽  
LUZINETE DE OLIVEIRA MENDONÇA
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
Pedagogical Beliefs ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Statistics And Probability ◽  
Teachers Attitudes

The inclusion of statistics and probability in the mathematics curriculum has always generated challenges to mathematics teachers of elementary schools. This article discusses activities that promote the professional development of such teachers. We present part of a doctoral research study of 16 teachers in which we discuss two case studies of teachers who planned teaching activities focusing on probabilistic simulations. Results demonstrated that the joint elaboration and discussion, within an educational space marked by collaboration, afforded teachers greater security when addressing the subject, and allowed them to develop new knowledge and ideas on teaching and learning statistics and probability. However, diverse pedagogical beliefs could drive different teachers’ attitudes in classes and influence their focus while implementing their practices. First published November 2014 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

scholarly journals DATA LITERACY IS STATISTICAL LITERACY

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-25
Author(s):  
ROBERT GOULD
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Education Research ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Science Curriculum ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
School Students ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Data Literacy ◽  
Research Journal

Past definitions of statistical literacy should be updated in order to account for the greatly amplified role that data now play in our lives. Experience working with high-school students in an innovative data science curriculum has shown that teaching statistical literacy, augmented by data literacy, can begin early. First published May 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

scholarly journals SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ REASONING ABOUT CONDITIONAL PROBABILITY, SAMPLES, AND SAMPLING PROCEDURES

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-125
Author(s):  
THEODOSIA PRODROMOU
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Conditional Probability ◽  
Mathematics Curriculum ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Problem Situation ◽  
School Students ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Samples And Sampling ◽  
Sampling Procedures

In the Australian mathematics curriculum, Year 12 students (aged 16-17) are asked to solve conditional probability problems that involve the representation of the problem situation with two-way tables or three-dimensional diagrams and consider sampling procedures that result in different correct answers. In a small exploratory study, we investigate three Year 12 students’ conceptions and reasoning about conditional probability, samples, and sampling procedures. Through interviews with the students, supported by analysis of their work investigating probabilities using tabular representations, we investigate the ways in which these students perceive, express, and answer conditional probability questions from statistics, and also how they reason about the importance of taking into account what is being sampled and how it is being sampled. We report on insights gained about these students’ reasoning with different conditional probability problems, including how they interpret, analyse, solve, and communicate problems of conditional probability. First published November 2016 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

scholarly journals STATISTICAL LITERACY AS THE EARTH MOVES

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-37
Author(s):  
CHRIS J. WILD
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Data Display ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Bob Dylan ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Times ◽  
Seismic Forces

“The Times They Are a-Changin’” says the old Bob Dylan song. But it is not just the times that are a-changin’. For statistical literacy, the very earth is moving under our feet (apologies to Carole King). The seismic forces are (i) new forms of communication and discourse and (ii) new forms of data, data display and human interaction with data. These upheavals in the worlds of communication and data are ongoing. If anything, the pace of change is accelerating. And with it, what it means to be statistically literate is also changing. So how can we tell what is important? We will air some enduring themes and guiding principles. First published May 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

MORE THAN JUST NUMBERS: CHALLENGES FOR PROFESSIONAL STATISTICIANS

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 362-375
Author(s):  
CLAIRE CAMERON ◽  
ELLA IOSUA ◽  
MATTHEW PARRY ◽  
ROSALINA RICHARDS ◽  
CHRYSTAL JAYE
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Workforce Shortage ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Qualitative Survey ◽  
The People ◽  
The Future

This paper describes a qualitative survey of professional statisticians carried out in New Zealand in 2014. The aim of the study was to find out if the issues this group faced were consistent with those identified in the literature. The issues identified were integrity, legitimacy, isolation, workforce shortage, communication, and marginalisation. They represent points of frustration for statisticians that may impact on the future of the profession as it responds to increasing demands and higher expectations. We found that these issues resonated for many of the statisticians included in our study and we have discussed a number of strategies to address them. They include raising our profile, attracting a broader range of people to the profession, increasing our communication skills, raising the statistical literacy of the people we work with, and a commitment to making it easy to engage with our colleagues. First published November 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

ASSESSING STATISTICAL LITERACY AND STATISTICAL REASONING: THE REALI INSTRUMENT

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
ANELISE SABBAG ◽  
JOAN GARFIELD ◽  
ANDREW ZIEFFLER
Keyword(s):  
Development Process ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Measurement Model ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Statistical Reasoning ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Expert Review ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
The Relationship

Statistical literacy and statistical reasoning are important learning goals that instructors aim to develop in statistics students. However, there is a lack of clarity regarding the relationship among these learning goals and to what extent they overlap. The REasoning and Literacy Instrument (REALI) was designed to concurrently measure statistical literacy and reasoning. This paper reports the development process of the REALI assessment, which included test blueprint, expert review, item categorization, pilot and field testing, and data analysis to identify what measurement model best represents the constructs of statistical literacy and reasoning given the criteria of fit and parsimony. The results suggested that statistical literacy and reasoning can be measured effectively by the REALI assessment with high score precision. First published November 2018 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

scholarly journals TELLING STORIES, LANDING PLANES AND GETTING THEM MOVING – A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ STATISTICAL LITERACY

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-119
Author(s):  
JULIE SCOTT JONES ◽  
JOHN E. GOLDRING
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Anxiety ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Barriers To Learning ◽  
Statistical Literacy ◽  
Surface Approach ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
University Level ◽  
Development Of Students

The issue of poor statistical literacy amongst undergraduates in the United Kingdom is well documented. At university level, where poor statistics skills impact particularly on social science programmes, embedding is often used as a remedy. However, embedding represents a surface approach to the problem. It ignores the barriers to learning that students bring to class, which may not always be addressed solely through embedding, such as, mathematics anxiety. Instead, embedding can only work within a much deeper pedagogic model that places students at its heart, as active participants in learning. This paper examines the development of such a model within a large sociology programme, where there was an implementation of a range of pedagogic strategies to support the development of students’ statistical literacy. First published May 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

scholarly journals STUDENTS’ EMERGENT MODELLING OF STATISTICAL MEASURES – A CASE STUDY

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-162
Author(s):  
CHRISTIAN BÜSCHER ◽  
SUSANNE SCHNELL
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
School Students ◽  
Frequency Distributions ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Statistical Measures ◽  
Statistical Knowledge ◽  
Learning Pathways ◽  
Teaching Learning

The present study investigates the processes of how German middle school students (age 14) interpret, contrast and evaluate different (informal) statistical measures in order to summarise and compare frequency distributions. To trace the developing insights into the properties of these measures, this paper uses the ‘emergent modelling’ perspective: measures are understood as models, which can either be used to make sense of a given situation or to reason about the statistical measures themselves, e.g. in terms of when they can be applied adequately. The emergent modelling approach is used (1) as a theoretical framework for describing students’ conceptual development, and (2) as a design heuristic for developing a teaching-learning arrangement aiming at developing insights about (frequency) distributions and statistical measures. In the qualitative analysis of a design experiment, two students’ emerging contextual and statistical knowledge is identified, revealing the intertwined nature of both types of knowledge. Overall, this paper illustrates the important role the emergent modelling perspective can play for designing as well as describing students’ learning pathways in statistics education. First published November 2017 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

scholarly journals CONCEPTUAL ISSUES IN QUANTIFYING UNUSUALNESS AND CONCEIVING STOCHASTIC EXPERIMENTS: INSIGHTS FROM STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES IN DESIGNING SAMPLING SIMULATIONS

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-105
Author(s):  
LUIS SALDANHA
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
Teaching Experiment ◽  
Simulation Design ◽  
School Students ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Computer Microworld ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Repeated Sampling

This article reports on a classroom teaching experiment that engaged a group of high school students in designing sampling simulations within a computer microworld. The simulation-design activities aimed to foster students’ abilities to conceive of contextual situations as stochastic experiments, and to engage them with the logic of hypothesis testing. This scheme of ideas involves imagining a population and a sample drawn from it, and an image of repeated sampling as a basis for quantifying a sampling outcome’s unusualness in terms of long-run relative frequency under an assumption about the population’s composition. The study highlights challenges that students experienced, and sheds light on aspects of conceiving stochastic experiments and conceiving a sampling outcome’s unusualness as a probabilistic quantity. First published November 2016 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

scholarly journals SAMPLING IN THE WILD: HOW ATTENTION TO VARIATION SUPPORTS MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SAMPLING PRACTICE

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-34
Author(s):  
MICHELLE E. FORSYTHE
Keyword(s):  
Statistics Education ◽  
Sixth Grade ◽  
School Students ◽  
Research Journal ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Sixth Grade Students ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
K 12

Sampling is a fundamental practice of many scientific disciplines. However, K–12 students are rarely asked to think critically about sampling decisions. Because of this, open questions remain about how best to support students in this practice. This study explores the emergent sampling practice of two classes of sixth-grade students as they investigate the ecology of a local creek. It draws on student interviews, pre/post-tests, student artifacts, and video recordings of classroom activity to identify and trace shifts in the ways in which students approached collecting data. The findings suggest three ways in which students’ attention to variation within the context of their ecological investigations supported their development of a more sophisticated practice of sampling. First published May 2018 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

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