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

Nicholson, J.; Ridgway, J.

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

Nicholson, J.; Ridgway, J.

Authors

J. Nicholson

Professor Jim Ridgway jim.ridgway@durham.ac.uk

Contributors

M.A. Sorto
Editor

A. White
Editor

L. Guyot
Editor

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