Data Representations in Early Statistics: Data Sense, Meta-Representational Competence and Transnumeration

Developing Data Sense: Making Inferences From Variability in Tsunamis at Primary School

“…The primary-school curriculum in Chile, as part of the education reform process implemented in 2012, establishes the necessity of promoting the teaching of statistics based on students' own experiences and interests, highlighting the importance of solving problems in context (Langrall et al, 2011; Ministerio de Educación de Chile [MINEDUC], 2018). This approach is part of what is known as statistical literacy (Estrella & Olfos, 2012), which promotes the use of real data, the understanding of how the data are generated, and the making of statistical judgments and inferences (Pfannkuch & Ben-Zvi, 2011), as well as the development of data sense based on solving problems in context (Estrella, 2018). However, in the current curricular guidelines for mathematics in Grades 1 to 6, neither data sense nor the making of inferences appears explicitly (MINEDUC, 2018).…”

“…It will allow them to identify, characterize, and quantify random processes, in order to predict and reduce variability (Snee, 1993). As such, reflecting on the variability of data requires having developed data sense, as this is built on a set of abilities and knowledge that favor the use and creation of strategies for investigating statistical problems (Estrella, 2018).…”

“…The analysis of problems related to natural disasters is relevant to the understanding of data as evidence for making better decisions. This study takes advantage of the significance of this context to reveal ways of thinking about variability using a conceptual framework that coordinates an adaptation of the analytical categorization established by Dierdorp et al (2017), with the conceptual construct of data sense proposed by Estrella (2018). Dierdorp et al (2017) developed a framework for analyzing variability in order to determine if the linear regression tasks proposed for twelfth-grade students favored processes of reasoning about variability.…”

“…In Chile, beginning in 2012, Estrella and colleagues have proposed teaching and learning statistics from the first years of formal education and have addressed the idea of data sense. So, Estrella (2017Estrella ( , 2018 focused on early statistics and positioned her research in observing and discovering fundamental ideas and common procedures in statistics processes from the beginning of primary school. She positions data at the center of statistics and, as such, seeks to define the meaning of one of the fundamental ideas of the discipline, studying its development in learning school statistics, concluding that this implies facing a problem with a certain number sense in context, which gives meaning and integrates uncertainty (Estrella, 2018;Estrella et al, 2020).…”

“…Consequently, data sense can be developed through teaching that promotes the use of reasoning and strategies belonging to statistics but considers students' experiences and interests. Based on the understanding that data sense is not determined by a definition, Estrella (2018) proposed ostensible actions in performance and characterized data sense through ten components (see Table 1).…”