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Average: the juxtaposition of procedure and context

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Abstract

This paper presents recent data on the performance of 247 middle school students on questions concerning average in three contexts. Analysis includes considering levels of understanding linking definition and context, performance across contexts, the relative difficulty of tasks, and difference in performance for male and female students. The outcomes lead to a discussion of the expectations of the curriculum and its implementation, as well as assessment, in relation to students' skills in carrying out procedures and their understanding about the meaning of average in context.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by Australian Research Council Grant No. LP0669106. An earlier version of some of these results was presented at the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia conference in Singapore, 2012 (Watson and Chick 2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tasmania, Private Bag 66, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 7001

    Jane Watson, Helen Chick & Rosemary Callingham

Authors
  1. Jane Watson
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  2. Helen Chick
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  3. Rosemary Callingham
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Correspondence to Jane Watson.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 7 ANOVA results for three year groupings
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Appendix 2

Table 8 Gender differences for each problem by paired years
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Watson, J., Chick, H. & Callingham, R. Average: the juxtaposition of procedure and context. Math Ed Res J 26, 477–502 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13394-013-0113-4

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