Levels of Statistical Thinking in the Measures of Central Tendency ( mean , median, and mode) among Eighth-Graders in Jordan

This study sought to reveal the levels of statistical thinking in the measures of central tendency among eighth-graders in Jordan. The aim of the study was to investigate the differences in students’ performance on a statistical thinking test according to the measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode).
The study sample consisted of 186 eighth-graders in the governorate of Irbid in Northern Jordan. For the purposes of this research, a test was designed that covered the three measures of central tendency as well as the four basic statistical skills (describing data, organizing data, representing data, analyzing and interpreting data). The test was intended to measure the four levels of statistical thinking (idiosyncratic, transitional, quantitative and analytical thinking).
The resulting classification of students in terms of statistical skills revealed that the highest mean achieved by students was for the skill of organizing data at (3.1) so this skill was classified at the quantitative level among students. Moreover, the students’ skills of describing data (2.2) and representing data (1.8) were classified at the transitional level. With regard to the skill of analyzing and interpreting data, students were classified at the idiosyncratic level, and this skill had the lowest mean (1.3). In addition, it should be noted that students did not achieve the level of analytical thinking in any of the skills.
Research findings revealed a significant difference in students’ performance on the measures of central tendency test. It became clear that the students were more competent in the concept of mode than they were in the two concepts of mean and median; furthermore, students were more competent in the concept of the mean than that of the median.
This study highlighted the need for mathematics teachers to consider students’ varying levels of statistical thinking due to the significance of these levels in the development of students’ learning of the measures of central tendency specifically and the concepts of statistical thinking in general.