Students’ reasoning about uncertainty while making informal statistical inferences in an Integrated Pedagogic Approach.


Book: 
Sustainability in statistics education (Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Teaching Statistics, ICOTS9, July 2014)
Authors: 
Manor, H., Ben-Zvi, D., & Aridor, K.
Editors: 
K. Makar, B. de Sousa, and R. Gould
Category: 
Year: 
2014
Publisher: 
International Association for Statistical Education and International Statistical Institute
Place: 
Voorburg, The Netherlands
URL: 
http://icots.info/9/proceedings/pdfs/ICOTS9_8C2_MANOR.pdf
Abstract: 

Reasoning about uncertainty is a key and challenging element in informal statistical inferential reasoning. We designed and implemented an “Integrated Pedagogic Approach” to help students understand the relationship between sample and population in making informal statistical inferences. In this case study we analyze two sixth grade students’ reasoning about uncertainty during their first encounters with making informal statistical inferences based on random samples taken from a hidden TinkerPlots2 Sampler. We identified four main stages in the students’ reasoning about uncertainty: Account for, examine, control, and quantify uncertainty. In addition, two types of uncertainties – contextual and a statistical –shaped the students’ reasoning about uncertainty and played a major role in their transitions from stage to stage. Implications for research and practice are also discussed. 

The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education