Assessing statistical reasoning among Chinese primary school students

Abstract

In spite of its importance, statistical reasoning has not gained much attention by researchers. Similarly, the Malaysian primary students’ statistical reasoning in descriptive statistics is still unknown. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the statistical reasoning in descriptive statistics among the primary school students in a Chinese school at Johor, Malaysia. 600 Chinese Primary Six students participated in this study. The 12-item statistical reasoning instrument which was constructed by the researchers was administered to the students. Their statistical reasoning levels were evaluated based on Mooney’s (2002) framework. The findings demonstrated that the levels of statistical reasoning among the Chinese Primary Six students were considerably high. It was also found that most of the students mastered the construct of analyzing and interpreting data. The findings of this study serve as the guideline for further investigations in future studies.