Real-world contexts in statistics components of UK mathematics examinations: aiming forward, walking backwards

Nicholson, J.; Ridgway, J.

Abstract

Reasoning with data is pervasive in society; evidence-based policy requires reasoning about complex data; many statistics curricula do not equip students to understand such reasoning. A new mathematics curriculum for upper secondary school (pre-university) students has been taught in England from September 2017, which includes assessment based on large-scale, pre-released data. Here, we critique the specimen examination papers, identifying inappropriate uses of statistics, and a failure to understand the rationale for working with large scale, authentic, data sets. We offer an account of how this poor state of affairs has come about.

Citation

Nicholson, J., & Ridgway, J. (2018). Real-world contexts in statistics components of UK mathematics examinations: aiming forward, walking backwards. In M. Sorto, A. White, & L. Guyot (Eds.), Looking back, looking forward : proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS10), July 2018, Kyoto, Japan

• Conference Name: Tenth International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS10)
• Conference Location: Kyoto, Japan
• Start Date: Jul 8, 2018
• End Date: Jul 13, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jul 12, 2018
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Oct 9, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 6, 2019
• Book Title: Looking back, looking forward : proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS10), July 2018, Kyoto, Japan.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1145289
• Publisher URL: https://iase-web.org/Conference_Proceedings.php?p=ICOTS_10_2018