The role of explanations and context in informal inferential reasoning among six grade students

Explanations in statistics education are an uncommon research subject. Explanations however play an important role in the study of learning as documented in other disciplines, such as, science education, mathematics education, philosophy of science, and psychology. Explanations in these fields are considered a key and significant aid to promoting understanding and learning processes. This pre-SRTL6 paper will consider the role of explanations and context in learning to reason about Informal Statistical Inference (ISI) among sixth graders (age 12). This is a case study of several small groups of students, within an inquiry-based and technology-rich learning environment that was designed to promote Informal Inferential Reasoning (IIR).