Statistical literacy should be a key goal in preparing students to understand statistical information which is often reported in the media. This research is centred on the teaching of a specially designed unit of work on statistical literacy to ninety Year 10 (14-year-old) high school students that emphasised media reports both in the teaching approach and in the pre- and post- assessments. The students' test responses were analysed using the SOLO taxonomy framework for assessment and results were compared to those in previous studies. The issues that arose in the development of the teaching unit, the preliminary results on changes in levels of statistical literacy observed, and the factors that could affect the development of statistical literacy, such as mathematical and English ability, are briefly reported. The students' and teachers' reactions to the unit of instruction using media reports 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