This paper is from Session 3C: Statistical instructors’ knowledge of assessing students’ learning of statistics

which comes under Topic 3: Education and development of staff who teach statistics

Trends in students’ conceptual understanding of statistics

Presenter

• Robert C delMas (University of Minnesota, United States)

Abstract

The ARTIST project has been collecting data since 2005 on students’ understanding of statistics through the administration of the Comprehensive Assessment of Outcomes in Statistics (CAOS) instrument. The CAOS test consists of 40 multiple-choice items that cover six topics: data collection and design, graphical representations, variability, sampling variability, tests of significance, and bivariate data. From 2005 through 2013, over 30,000 secondary and tertiary level students in the United States of America who were enrolled in a college-level first course in statistics completed the CAOS test at the end of their respective courses. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to provide evidence for the dimensionality and reliability of the CAOS test. Students’ responses were used to look at trends in students’ understanding of the six statistical topics across the 8-year period.