This paper is from Session 2I: Perspectives on statistics education with a focus in secondary schools - session 2
which comes under Topic 2: Statistics education at the school level
Paper 2I1 (Thursday 12th, 14:00-15:30)
Introduction of hypothesis testing through an informal inference approach in a Mexican high school
Presenter
- Eleazar Silvestre Castro (Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico)
Co-authors
- Ernesto Sánchez (Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN, México)
- Victor Garcia (CINVESTAV-IPN, Mexico)
Abstract
We report the main results of a series of design experiments in which two full high school groups (16-18 y.o.) faced hypothesis testing using random simulations via Fathom; one group (N=36) had no previous contact with statistical inference, while the other (N=42) was already engaged in the study of sampling distributions through an informal approach. Despite their background differences, we observed some common and similar patterns in students’ reasoning during the experiments in relation to both achievements and difficulties in their performance: conflicts in the identification of the rejection zone and computation of the p-value; a tendency to assume the test as a proof of truth; and a gradual incremental and explicit usage of key concepts.