This paper is from Session 8C: Reasoning
which comes under Topic 8: New approaches to research in statistics education
Paper 8C1 (Thursday 12th, 16:00-17:30)
Using the Toulmin model of argumentation to validate students' inferential reasoning
Presenter
- María Guadalupe Tobías-Lara (Tecnológico de Monterrey, México)
Co-author
- Ana Gómez-Blancarte (National Polytechnic Institute, México)
Abstract
Assuming that formal ideas of statistical inference must be constructed progressively to gradually increase their level of formalization, exploring and promoting the development of informal inferential reasoning has been a focus of research on statistics education for over a decade. How to evaluate the development of students’ inferential reasoning, and how they demonstrate such reasoning are two important, recent research issues. Given that inferential reasoning –whether formal or informal– may be linked to the activity of argumentation, we claim that students’ inferential reasoning should be evaluated in terms of the strengths or weaknesses of their arguments. Drawing on the Toulmin model of argumentation, this paper proposes two levels of analysis to inform us about the space of reasons necessary to validate students’ inferential reasoning.