Different lenses on distributions and the integration of context knowledge in data-ing processes of primary school students

Frischemeier, Daniel; Birk, Lisa

Abstract

Data-ing, understood as the verb accompanying the noun data, can describe multiple competencies related to a proficient handling of data and its representations. Previous studies highlight the importance of developing a more holistic perspective on data for young learners as well as the consideration and fruitful integration of context knowledge and statistical information in order to strengthen competences involved while data-ing. Although both topics are well-researched individually, studies that jointly consider these aspects remain scarce. This study, therefore, reports on findings from an exploratory qualitative study of data-ing processes of 31 German third-grade students (age 9–10) and investigates the lenses on distributions that the young learners adopt as well as the purposes for which they leverage their context knowledge. Additionally, the study further characterizes the integration of the young learners’ context knowledge while data-ing with regards to the sources of said context knowledge. For analysis, the interviews were videotaped, transcribed and analyzed with qualitative content analysis methods. The exploratory study showed that our young learners predominantly use a classifier view to interpret the distributions of numerical data, often rely on their context knowledge more than on provided data, use their context knowledge mostly to justify a claim and mostly integrate their context knowledge on a local, ego-centric level in data-ing processes.