Reasoning About Sampling in the Context of Making Informal Statistical Inferences

Abstract

This research study examined how senior secondary school students develop understanding of the core statistical concepts of "sample" and "sampling" when making statistical inferences; and how students build interconnections between these concepts. This was observed as students engaged in making interval estimates of a population parameter within a computer-simulated environment. Activities involved sampling and estimating across three different sample size situations followed by a reflection stage to compare the estimates. Results of the four stages of the students' activities are presented. Discussion of the results will be shared at the SRTL-7 forum.