Secondary school students interpreting and comparing dotplots: An eye-tracking study

Abstract

Dotplots can increase students’ reasoning about variability and distribution in statistics education but literature shows mixed results. To better understand students’ strategies when interpreting non-stacked dotplots, we examine how and how well upper secondary school students estimate and compare means of dotplots. We used two item types: single dotplots requiring estimation of the mean and double ones requiring comparison of means. Gaze data of students solving six items were triangulated with data from stimulated recall. Most students correctly estimated means from single dotplots; results for comparison were mixed. A possible implication is that single, non-stacked dotplots can be seen as a step towards teaching students to interpret univariate graphs but further research is needed for comparing graphs.