A TECHNOLOGY-BASED STATISTICAL REASONING ASSESSMENT TOOL IN DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

The focus of assessment in statistics has gradually shifted from traditional assessment towards alternative assessment where more attention has been paid to the core statistical concepts such as center, variability, and distribution. In spite of this, there are comparatively few assessments that combine the significant three types of statistical reasoning (reasoning about center, spread, and distribution) with information technology in the context of secondary school students. Hence, this paper intends to discuss the development and initial validation of a technology-based statistical reasoning assessment tool that has been created based on a previously developed statistical reasoning framework. This framework has been useful in evaluating students’ statistical reasoning levels in task-based interviews. The assessment tool formulated through this study will be used to refine and validate the initial statistical reasoning framework. There are five tasks in this instrument and each item is labeled according to four key constructs. The technological tool that has been used in solving tasks is dynamic mathematics software. This technology-based statistical reasoning assessment tool can be applied for further investigation.