Examining 8th grade students' statistical reasoning levels in data-handling processes

Along with the separation of statistics from mathematics and seeing it as another branch of science, the concept of statistical reasoning emerges as an important concept discussed in the related literature. It is stated that statistical reasoning is not a skill that can be developed intuitively in individuals. It is stated that this skill can be developed during student life as a part of school education. The aim of this research is to examine the statistical reasoning levels of secondary school 8th grade students. Statistical thinking processes developed by Mooney for middle school students are considered as the theoretical framework of this study. The design of the study is descriptive survey. Further semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 students who voluntarily participated in the study. The research was carried out with 540 eighth grade students selected by convenient sampling method from three different public secondary schools in Etimesgut, Ankara. There are 9 open-ended questions in the test prepared to determine the statistical reasoning levels of the students. The analysis of the answers to these questions was evaluated at 4 levels according to Mooney's statistical reasoning data processing process and sub-processes. These processes are data identification, data editing and reduction, data representation, data analysis and interpretation. These sub- processes are listed from Level 1 to Level 4. These levels were defined as: Level 1: Personal, Level 2: Provisional, Level 3: Quantitative, and Level 4: Analytical. It is stated that students' statistical reasoning increases from level 1 to level 4. The findings of the study show that the mean statistical reasoning level of 8th grade students is 1.85. According to Mooney, although this value is close to level 2, it can be said that it is between level 1 and level 2. In other words, 46 percent of the 8th grade students' statistical reasoning levels are between Level 1 and Level 2; 32.4 percent of them are between Level 2 and Level 3; and 3.7 percent of students are between Level 3 and Level 4. There is only one student with the closest average to Level 4. The findings obtained from the interviews with the students were analyzed by content analysis. The processes and levels in Mooney's framework are handled as categories and themes. In general, they stated that the students mostly preferred the column chart in their graphic drawings, they had difficulty in reading the graph when the horizontal bar graph was given, and they had difficulty in explaining their thoughts in the questions that required reasoning.