Investigation of statistical reasoning skills of middle school students in statistical tasks requiring proportional reasoning

The aim of this research is to investigate the statistical reasoning skills of middle school students in statistical tasks requiring proportional reasoning. The research was designed according to the basic qualitative research and descriptive analysis was used in the analysis of the data. The study group of the research consists of 20 students studying in 6 public schools in Trabzon province in the second semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. The students were selected from 8th grade students with high academic success using the criterion sampling method. Two interview protocols prepared by the researcher, Two-Tier Diagnostic Instrument to Assess Proportional Reasoning (Test) and the observation form were used as data collection tools. A preliminary model based on the literature was developed, rearranged and finalized to determine the statistical reasoning levels of the students. With this model prepared based on SOLO Taxonomy, the statistical reasoning levels of the students participating in the research were determined through task-based interview method, and it was determined that all of the students were positioned at the sub-levels of the Relational Structure (RS1, RS2 and RS3). The findings were discussed with the literature and the results obtained were presented. In the light of the results, various suggestions were made to teachers and researchers. Keywords: Statistical Reasoning, Proportional Reasoning, SOLO Taxonomy