Students often struggle to interpret graphs correctly, despite emphasis on graphic literacy in U.S. education standards documents. The purpose of this study was to describe challenges sixth graders with varying levels of science and mathematics achievement encounter when transitioning from interpreting graphs having discrete independent variables…

Learning progress assessment (LPA) provides formative information about effectiveness of instructional decisions. Learning curves are usually presented as graphical illustrations. However, little is known about teachers understanding and interpreting of graphically presented information. An instrument to measure competencies in reading graphs from…

Previous research has demonstrated how young children can identify the signal in data. In this exploratory study we considered how they might also express meanings for noise when creating computational models using recent developments in software tools. We conducted extended clinical interviews with four groups of 11-year-olds and analysed the…

The purpose of this paper is to assess the validity of multiple-choice questions in measuring fourth grade students' ability to interpret graphs related to physical science topics such as motion and temperature. We administered a test including 6 multiple-choice questions to 28 fourth grade students. Students were asked to explain their thinking…

Connecting data and chance is fundamental in statistics curricula. The use of software like TinkerPlots can bridge both worlds because the TinkerPlots Sampler supports learners in expressive modeling. We conducted a study with elementary preservice teachers with a basic university education in statistics. They were asked to set up and evaluate…

Modern classrooms are often comprised of a heterogeneous student population with varying abilities. To address this variance, third-grade teachers implemented researcher-designed, pre-differentiated, and enriched math curricula in algebra, geometry and measurement, and graphing and data analysis. The goal of the curricula was to provide academic…

Students have problems with understanding, using and interpreting graphs. In order to improve the students' skills for working with graphs, we propose Manual Video Measurement (MVM). In this paper, the MVM method is explained and its accuracy is tested. The comparison with the standardized video data software shows that its accuracy is comparable…

This dissertation concerns kindergarteners' and second graders' invented representations of motion, their interactions with conventional representations of motion built from the child's movement in front of a motion detector and using real-time graphing tools, and any changes in the invented representations that this interaction brings about. We…

Methods that have been employed in McGill University's (Montreal, Quebec) program of research into the nature of learning are described. The methods illustrate four phases of inquiry: conceptualization or model-building; data gathering techniques; data representation; and data analysis. For the university's learning task project, the development…

This volume of the 27th International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education Conference includes the following research reports: (1) The Affective Views of Primary School Children (Peter Grootenboer); (2) Theoretical Model of Analysis of Rate Problems in Algebra (Jose Guzman, Nadine Bednarz and Fernando Hitt); (3) Locating Fractions on…