Critical views of 8th grade students toward statistical data in newspaper articles: Analysis in light of statistical literacy

摘要

Understanding and interpreting biased data, decision-making in accordance with the data, and critically evaluating situations involving data are among the fundamental skills necessary in the modern world. To develop these required skills, emphasis on statistical literacy in school mathematics has been gradually increased in recent years. The critical views of 8th graders with respect to statistical data presented in several newspaper articles were investigated from various aspects through this descriptive study. The study was conducted in a middle school with 9 students at the 8th grade level. The statistical data included in news articles selected from different national newspapers published in Turkey were used to collect the data. Through clinical interviews, the evaluations of the students were determined from the aspects of consistency, sample, data collection, data analysis, data presentation, and data support; the reasoning behind the students’ evaluations was also discussed. As a result, it was determined that the students did not perform well during their critical evaluations of newspaper articles that included research data.