An investigation of eighth grade students' statistical thinking about measures of central tendency

The purpose of this study is to examine eighth grade students' statistical thinking about measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode). In the study, phenomenology design, which is one of the qualitative research methods, was utilized. The study was carried out with eighth grade students who enrolled in a public middle school in Ankara in the 2019-2020 academic year. In order to examine eighth grade students' statistical thinking about measures of central tendency, the scales in the literature were examined and a data collection tool related to the concepts of mean, median, and mode was developed by the researcher. Data sources of this study are students' documents and audio records of interviews. The data obtained from the interviews with 30 8th grade students were analyzed and interpreted by considering the frameworks about statistical thinking in literature. According to the findings, eight grade students have procedural knowledge about measures of central tendency and cannot develop their conceptual understanding. It was also observed that their statistical thinking are at moderate level. It was seen that students were able to find/calculate measures of central tendency. However, they had difficulty in interpreting the cases regarding measures of central tendency. It was also found that the majority of students had difficulty in determining the proper one among median, mode, and mean with respect to the question.