Examination of 8th grade students' statistical reasoning within the context of model eliciting activities

The purpose of this research is to examine the statistical reasoning of 8th-grade students in the context of model eliciting activities. The method of the study is a case study, which is a qualitative research design. The study group consists of 6 students studying in the Van province during the 2022-2023 academic year. Four model eliciting activities developed by Purdue University were used in the study. The study group of 6 students was divided into two groups of three. Three hours were allocated for each model eliciting activity used in the study, and the data collection process was completed in 4 weeks. The collected data were analyzed according to the Middle School Statistical Thinking (M3ST) model. The findings were discussed under the four basic processes of the M3ST framework: describing data, organizing, and reduction data, representing data, analyzing, and interpreting data. As a result of this study, it was observed that 8th-grade students' statistical reasoning was at the 4th level (analytical) in the describing data process, the 3rd level (quantitative) in organization and reduction data process, the 1st level (idiosyncratic) and 2nd level (transitional) in the representing data process, and the 2nd level (transitional) in the analyzing, and interpreting data process.