This paper is from Session 8C: Research on developing students’ informal statistical inferential reasoning

which comes under Topic 8: Research in statistics education

Exploring informal inferential reasoning through data games

Presenter

• Kosoom Kreetong (University of Massachusetts - Amherst, United States)

Abstract

This study explores the use of the computer game Ship Odyssey to facilitate learning of ideas underlying students’ informal inferential reasoning as they solve parameter estimation problems. I observed seventh graders as they played the game. Players send rats to locate sunken treasure. The rats return with “noisy” readings. Players determine the treasure location using these data. Thus the game requires parameter estimation in a repeated measurement context, a context that various researches (Konold & Pollatsek, 2002; Lehrer & Kim, 2009) have claimed to be particularly conducive for learning to conceive of data as signal and noise. This conception is precursory to understanding that larger samples give better estimates of a population or process signal.