This paper is from Session 7G: Statistics for non-quantitative majors
which comes under Topic 7: Statistics education and the wider society
(Tuesday 13th, 14:00-16:00)
A five step framework for interpreting tables and graphs in their contexts
Presenter
Co-author
Abstract
High school, college, and university students as well as citizens encounter quantitative information in a wide variety of media and contexts, such as in books, journals, newspapers, magazines, advertising, the workplace and on the Internet. While it is often assumed that people are able interpret published data in context, this assumption is open to question. In this paper, a Five Step Framework to help both teachers and students to interpret data in the form of tables or graphs is described and exemplified. Development of the Framework by Kemp was based on the SOLO taxonomy devised by Biggs and Collis. The Framework offers a progression from simple numerical reading of a table, to more complex interpretations of tables and graphs needed for a better understanding of data in their context. The Framework has been used successfully in primary, secondary and tertiary mathematics education to support both students and their teachers.
