Statistical Literacy: Factual Assessment to Support Hypothetical Thinking

What is it about?

The GAISE College report suggested that teachers assess statistical literacy by students "interpreting or critiquing articles in the news." Media stories typically present summary statistics to support non-statistical conclusions. Summary statistics require hypothetical thinking which in turn requires drill in factual exercises involving deductive right-wrong answers. This paper presents a wide range of deductive exercises that may help students develop the hypothetical thinking needed to deal with the fact that all statistics are socially constructed. This paper presents 130 different topics involving fact-based exercises with objective answers. Of these, 50% are numerical, 30% are number-related and 20% are non-numeric. Selected examples are presented. At least half of these exercises have been used by students in a web-based format. These exercises are classified by topics in traditional research statistics and in statistical literacy.

Featured Image