This paper is from Session 5F: Assessing statistical reasoning and statistical thinking

which comes under Topic 5: Assessment in statistics education

Other papers under session 5F ... 5F1: Assessing student learning about statistical inference 5F3: Towards assessing understanding of prerequisite knowledge for...

(Thursday 15th, 11:00-12:30)

Development of an instrument to assess statistical thinking

Presenter

• Auðbjörg Björnsdóttir (University of Minnesota, United States)

Co-authors

• Andrew Zieffler (University of Minnesota, United States)
• Joan Garfield (University of Minnesota, United States)
• Robert C delMas (University of Minnesota, United States)

Abstract

The Comprehensive Assessment of Outcomes in a First Statistics course (CAOS) test consists of 40 multiple-choice items that were judged by a group of Statistics Education experts in 2004 to cover important learning outcomes for a first course in statistics (delMas, Garfield, Ooms & Chance, 2007). More currently, the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) college report suggested several important learning goals for students enrolled in an introductory statistics course which have been endorsed by the American Statistical Association. This paper describes the development of a new instrument to assess the desired student learning outcomes presented in the GAISE college report. This paper discusses the process used to select and add items, which was based not only on content analysis but also on psychometric methods (e.g., item response theory, differential item functioning).

Other papers under session 5F ... 5F1: Assessing student learning about statistical inference 5F3: Towards assessing understanding of prerequisite knowledge for...