Thanks to the editor of Teaching Statistics for inviting fellow researchers who share our interest in statistics education at the primary school level to comment and expand on the message that we have initiated in the "Mystery" paper. We heartily agree with and support their comments. Overall, two general themes emerge from the Discussions, as well as each contributor focusing on an issue of personal interest. These provide important complements to our message and raise issues that apply to the research conducted and statistics education more broadly. The first theme is in relation to the implications for teacher education; the second theme is related to the school curriculum.

Incorporating an evidence-based approach in STEM education using data collection and analysis strategies when learning about science concepts enhances primary students’ discipline knowledge and cognitive development. This paper reports on learning activities that use the nature of viscosity and the power of informal statistical inference to build students’ conceptual understanding of interpolation and extrapolation without imposing on them the demands of understanding the nonlinear mathematics used to explore the concepts at the tertiary level. An exploratory research strategy was adopted to investigate the way in which Year 5 students created and analysed graphical representations from data collected when performing viscosity experiments. The data representations produced by the students and their subsequent predictions were analysed using the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) model as adapted specifically for graphical representations. The results illustrate that when provided with appropriate technological tools to scaffold student learning, in this case TinkerPlots ™, development of students’ appreciation of interpolation and extrapolation within meaningful data contexts across the STEM curriculum does not have to wait until the tertiary level.

The practice of statistics has the power to motivate and support learning across the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines. When connected with meaningful science contexts, statistical problem solving through the collection of data and subsequent data analysis, supported by contemporary graphing technology, presents opportunities to be innovative and creative in the delivery of learning across STEM curricula. Illustrated in this paper are the statistical outcomes associated with Grade 5 students, who were set the task of solving a mystery about an unknown concentration of a liquid through interpolation of data, which is seen here as finding a missing value in a dataset of two numerical variables where a relationship in the two variables can be represented in a bivariate graph.

The introduction of statistical concepts into school curricula in Australia and New Zealand in the early 1990s initiated an ongoing research program into the learning and teaching of statistics and probability in both countries. This paper reviews the contribution of Australian and New Zealand researchers to building statistical literacy at school, alongside international developments. From recognising how students develop understanding of specific statistical and probabilistic concepts, through teacher knowledge and beliefs for teaching statistics, to intervention studies and targeted teaching, the field of statistics education has grown and changed. Statistics and probability are now well established as part of the mathematics curriculum. The importance of linking statistical literacy and statistical understanding across the curriculum, as well as in STEM, has also begun to receive attention as other subjects have recognised the importance of data in their fields. Following a comprehensive review of the field in Australia and New Zealand, this paper then considers emerging areas of interest, such as new approaches to data visualisation, and suggests future research.

In understanding the imperative to address the complexities of the environmental, sociocultural, and economic challenges facing our global civilisation, universities often take a leading role given their focus on educating people for the future and through their research into the most salient issues of our time. It is also related to the operational impact universities have. At the University of TasmaniaUniversity of Tasmania, our ambitious commitment to be a leading “sustainable universitySustainablesustainable university” is based on using the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS).

Integrated STEM activities are espoused as appropriate for enhancing student learning in relation to statistical concepts; however, a greater understanding of the way in which students’ ideas about those concepts develop is needed to maximise the learning potential offered by engagement in STEM activities. For this study, plant growth was chosen as a topic from the Year 6 Australian Science Curriculum as an appropriate context to employ aspects of the four STEM disciplines to explore students’ developing ideas about variation. Sixty-four Year 6 students across three school terms worked in groups of four to trial various treatments and their effects on the growth of radish or wheat seeds. This report considers two aspects of student learning related to this topic based on (i) the formative assessment of features of students’ workbook entries specifically related to variation during the part of the classroom activity based on their TinkerPlots graphs and (ii) the later summative evidence of learning in responses to end-of-year questions on the activity for 56 of the students. The workbook entries are presented via a qualitative analysis to provide evidence of the forming of understanding of variation in a STEM context, with the SOLO Taxonomy being employed to assess the longer-term evidence and developmental nature of that learning. Overall, a broader picture has emerged of the potential for developing appreciation of variation in a STEM context in primary school.

The uncertainty of our times raises questions about how mathematics education can assist students to engage meaningfully with critical global issues. Over the past decades, a number of authors have called for mathematics education to align with critical analyses of sociocultural, economic and political issues and movements for change.

Humanity’s footprint on our planet can no longer be ignored. We are in the Age of the AnthropoceneAnthropocene, where human impact is the largest force determining the fate of life on EarthLife on Earth. Our species has succeeded in co-opting Earth’s resources for our own needs and desires, to the detriment of the planetary systems that sustain us and the whole Earth communityEarth community. Direct impacts include the interconnected crises of climate changeClimate change, biodiversity lossBiodiversebiodiversity loss, desertification, pollutionPollution and declining soil fertility.

The purposePurpose of this book is to add to the increasing body of literature recognising that educationEducation is, and must, in its praxis, be at the heart of all the Sustainable Development GoalsSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (SDGs): a key vehicle through which the concepts and practices needed to address the goals can be progressed. As we enter the third decade of the twenty-first century, we have a clear understanding of the wicked and complex polycrisesPolycrises regarding the health of life on our planet. Continuing in the direction of unsustainable exploitation of people and natureNature is no longer an option if life is to have a flourishingFlourishing future. There is also now a general global recognition of what we need to do, through our decisions, policies, and actions, to halt decline and enable this flourishing.

COVID-19 provided the world at large, including the world of mathematics education, with a challenge demanding attention and understanding. If met, this could potentially provide society with many of the skills needed to tackle the challenges of hyperobjects (Morton, 2013) such as climate change, which are potentially more threatening in the long-term. The COVID-19 context and the massive amount of data it has produced are the most recent examples of the growing recognition that the school mathematics curriculum has a role to play outside of the pure mathematics classroom. This paper considers COVID-19 as a stimulus for increasing the importance of statistical literacy and data literacy in preparing society for coping with world crises. Topics considered include the importance of acknowledging statistics as a significant component of mathematical ways of knowing, the contextual motivation provided by the COVID-19 crisis, the importance of statistics and statistical literacy, the place of statistics in the wider school curriculum, and finally, its place in the classroom. These topics need to be taken into account by both policy makers and teachers.

School and community interaction is an important topic in education, as evidence suggests that communities that value their local schools engender more positive long-term outcomes and a strengthening of the social capital for the students from those schools. Although school and community interaction has been explored from the school's perspective, less research has occurred from the perspective of the key stakeholders and leaders of a community, particularly in rural, regional, and disadvantaged areas. The context for this exploration is the Australian state of Tasmania, and the research findings may have implications for policy makers, school leaders, and teachers both nationally and internationally. Eighty-six community leaders and community members from rural, regional, and disadvantaged areas of the state responded to a survey, which included indicating the level and type of involvement they and their organisations had with local schools. The evidence from their comments suggests that community, business, and social leaders can play an important role in building social capital and as advocates for their local schools, as well as being a source of information, advice, and service to schools. In particular, this paper provides a foundation for future research with community members on their involvement in schooling and the impact of this involvement on students' social capital.

STEM learning experiences at the school level provide both opportunities and challenges for exploring students’ understanding of statistical concepts. This report focuses on data handling and informal inference embedded in a STEM context, that is, of testing, adjusting, and retesting catapults. In particular, the learning goal was for Grade 4 (aged 9–10 years) students to build on their developing understanding of variation while learning about the science topic of force as demonstrated by two configurations of catapults causing ping pong balls to be launched different distances. This report focuses on the students’ experiences of variation that were associated with the activity from a structural perspective during implementation. The analysis, employing various aspects of the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes, points to the potential contribution of multimodal functioning in identifying and characterizing understanding of variation in a new context. The activity took place with 50 students in two classes with data collected from student workbooks. Results suggest that meaningful engagement with context can provide support for developing understanding of the concept of variation.

This study considers the evolving influence of variation and expectation on the development of school students’ appreciation of distribution as displayed in their construction of graphical representations of data sets. Three interview protocols are employed, presenting different contexts within which 109 students, ranging in age from 6 to 15 years, could display and interpret their understanding. Responses are analyzed within a hierarchical cognitive framework. It is hypothesized from the analysis that, contrary to the order in which expectation and variation are introduced in the school curriculum, the natural tendency for students is to acknowledge variation first and then expectation. First published May 2009 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives

This paper reviews factors that contribute to the development of middle school students’ interest in statistical literacy and its motivational influence on learning. To date very little research has specifically examined the influence of positive affect such as interest on learning in the middle-school statistics context. Two bodies of associated research are available: interest research in a mathematics education context and attitudinal research in a tertiary statistics context. A content analysis of this literature suggests that interest development in middle school statistics will be the result of a complex interplay of classroom influences and individual factors such as: students’ knowledge of statistics, their enjoyment of statistics and their perceptions of competency in relation to the learning of statistics. First published May 2009 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives

This report focuses on the ways in which 36 Grade 4 students recognized, explained, described, and employed variation during interviews conducted 1 month after participating in STEM-based activities in which they tested, adjusted, and re-tested catapults. An inductive thematic methodology was used for analysis of the interview transcripts to capture the ways in which students discussed their analyses and justified their conclusions from the activity. The results were based on 1080 instances of variation in student responses to the interview questions, which evidenced three ways students characterized variation: contextual variation, specific variation, and general variation. Findings point to the essential nature of context in building statistical understanding in relation to both specific and general aspects of variation as well as decision-making in that context.

School completion to the end of Year 12 in rural, regional, and disadvantaged communities is an acknowledged challenge in Australia and internationally. This research reports the beliefs of 86 rural and regional community leaders in the Australian state of Tasmania. A survey on issues associated with students' school completion was designed specifically for community members, and responded to by the study participants. Findings that emerged from the data analysis included that participants were on average quite positive about the capability of students in the community and the potential for business/organisation links with schools. Some concern was expressed, however, about bullying in schools and students having well-formed plans for their futures after finishing school. This study provides a benchmark for future research with community members on their beliefs about issues related to students' educational aspirations and students' continuation in school. It has implications for policy makers, school leaders, and teachers at a national and international level.

Mathematics curricula have traditionally focused on content knowledge, often in the form of a scope and sequence of increasingly difficult mathematics. The importance of using and applying mathematics is recognised in the current Australian Curriculum Mathematics (AC: M) as ‘proficiencies’ that are intended to be integrated with the content. There is little support for teachers to develop these proficiencies – reasoning, understanding, problem solving and fluency. Learning progressions are sequences of learning that focus on cognitive processes, and thus provide a useful basis for curriculum development. Using an empirical Statistical Reasoning Learning Progression as an exemplar, a new approach to curriculum development is suggested that links content knowledge with the proficiencies. The outcome is a zone-based, rather than year level based, curriculum that allows teachers to target their teaching, so that students develop increasingly sophisticated understanding of statistics and probability.

Life as we know it would not be possible without plants. Plants supply food to many organisms (including people), produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide from the air, provide products for human use, and homes for many other living things. It is not surprising, therefore, that plant growth is a familiar topic in the primary school science curriculum. This paper describes an extension of the topic of plant growth for Year 6 students to include elements from the mathematics, in particular, statistics, and technologies curricula. In doing so, the importance of carefully collecting and analysing data to make decisions illustrates the way in which the practice of statistics supports learning outcomes in science. In the activity described here, students decide on the details for their science inquiry about plant growth to answer the question What makes plants grow best?, collect and analyse data over time using digital technology, and present a report of their findings to their class.

Statistical terms are used in everyday language and, at times, used in non-statistical ways. It is often assumed students understand statistical terms because of their common use; however, research into their understanding of specific statistical terms is scant. This report focuses on 58 Year 3 students’ responses to the basic question, What does the term ‘data’ mean?, and associated examples of data and data representations. The results indicate students are making progress in establishing meaning about data and their representations. Recommendations include more use of varying contexts within which students can explore data to enrich and enhance their learning about the practice of statistics

This article provides a literature-based critical review of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and STEM education. STEM is located in and contributes to a neoliberal view of economics and is narrowly focused on technological solutions to global problems. As such, it is unable to provide the kind of education students at all levels need for them to understand, imagine and prepare themselves for a sustainable future. The article calls for a reframing of science away from the technological focus of STEM, i.e. techno-science, towards a science of reconnection with nature and an opening of students’ imagination, and considers some of the elements of university leadership that are needed to enable this.