Box Plots: Issues for Teaching & Learning

Authors

Romaine Saunders
Patricia Forster, Edith Cowan University

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Faculty

Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences

School

School of Education

RAS ID

3336

Comments

Saunders, R., & Forster, P. (2005). Box plots: Issues for teaching and learning. Review process, 217.

Abstract

In this paper we discuss reasoning to do with box plots. We review findings in the research literature on upper-secondary students’ understanding of box plots, refer to relevant comments in the examiners’ reports for tertiary entrance examinations in Western Australia, and describe our own observations in a Year 12 class. A common theme is that students’ comparison of properties of two or more sets of data using box plots tends to be limited to quoting statistics. It seems that developing strategies for comparison is a challenge for teachers. Appropriate strategies will be explored in the conference session.