Developing Statistical Thinking in Schoolchildren: From Theory to Practice

Abstract

Since 2022, the school course «Probability and Statistics» has been taught as a compulsory subject in all schools in Russia, and questions on it are included in the Unified State Exam. However, international experience in teaching the basics of statistics shows that this is not an easy task. It includes not only teaching students how to prove the theorems of mathematical statistics and explain the calculation of the median and variance, but also contributes to the development of statistical thinking in them – the ability to make decisions based on the analysis of empirical data. According to the authors, the statistical community cannot and should not replace teachers who promote the teaching of statistics at school, but it has the opportunity to make a significant contribution to this process.
The article presents the experience of the All-Russian School competition on statistics «Trend», the All-Russian teacher competition for the best practices in teaching statistics «We train the best!», with the support of the territorial bodies of state statistics in St. Petersburg, Kirov and Rostov regions; master classes for hundreds of teachers teaching statistics in grades 7–11. In addition, the article presents plans for organizing a competition on civil statistics aimed at developing skills in working with statistical data, as well as teaching the basics of statistical analysis, the use of visualization tools, and the formation of citizenship through familiarity with objective statistical information