Early attempts to define statistical thinking revolved around discussions of the need for data,<br>understanding the nature of variability and how statisticians go about solving statistical<br>problems. More recently, Wild and Pfannkuch (1999) have proposed a framework in which they<br>identify five types of thinking they perceive as being fundamental to thinking statistically. We<br>understand these types of thinking as a mapping onto the statistical problem solving cycle (real<br>world problem, statistical problem, statistical solution, real world solution) and as providing us<br>with a beginning definition for statistical thinking. Wild and Pfannkuch (2004), in their paper on<br>understanding statistical thinking discussed the historical development of statistical thinking,<br>emerging from this discussion was a broader view of statistical thinking, namely, statistical<br>thinking is a way of making sense of the world, a particular world view.<br>We believe understanding statistical thinking as a world view may provide additional insights<br>into how we, as educators, can recognise, develop and assess statistical thinking within our<br>students. We explore the links between these constructs and what we observed when we<br>introduced a new teaching and learning strategy into a statistics design and analysis subject.
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