Poster presentation to showcase how to identify various connection within students' statistical understanding. The computerized constructions provide an interface upon which students and teachers can co-construct statistical models and methods. There will be ample opportunity to ask questions to the presenter on how this may be implemented in his or her classroom.
Full abstract:
Teachers or researchers can develop their own assessment instruments using Inspiration 6® which is a computerized visual learning tool that inspires students to develop and organize their ideas. It supports visual thinking techniques, enabling students to easily create and update concept maps. This study used the concept maps to evaluate progress in high-order reasoning skills in elementary statistics. Female students from a high school SummerMath program brainstormed, reasoned and created maps linking basic statistical terms and ideas, differences in knowledge, design and organization emerged. Such maps provided valuable diagnostic information essential to good teaching.
Students incorporated prior knowledge into their concept maps and revealed conceptions that were later better developed. While factual recall and application are standard methods for assessing statistical understanding, little is known about the ways in which students make connections between statistical concepts. The present research sought to identify various connections within students' statistical understanding. The computerized constructions provided the interface upon which students and teachers could co-construct statistical models and methods.
