SME6024

Teaching of Statistics &

Probability
Lecture 3: Curriculum, Teaching &
Assessment Standards for
Statistics & Probability

Introduction
In Malaysia, currently there is no known
standards for teaching individual subjects. Of
course, there is a a Malaysian Teacher
Standards established in 2009.
However, attempts are being made to formulate
standards for teaching mathematics by some
researchers in UPSI.
In more advanced countries like USA, UK and
Japan, standards for teaching mathematics have
been outlined many years ago and are still in
place.

 Why the needs for these standard for teaching statistics

& probability?
To set the benchmarks in order to achieve a meaningful
and useful statistics education.
Statistics education has become an increasingly
important component of the general education for
todays citizens.
These standards provide the framework for statistics
education towards enabling students, after leaving
school, to be statistically literate, both for their personal
lives and their future careers. To be statistically literate
mean to have the ability to understand and interpret
data, evaluate critically statistical information and to use
the quantitative information in the context of daily life.

Curriculum Standards (adapted

from NCTM, USA)
Standard 1: Formulate questions that can be addressed
with data and collect, organize and display relevant data
to answer them.
- For primary school students, they should be able to
i) pose questions and gather data about themselves and their
surroundings
ii) sort and classify objects according to their attributes
iii) represent data using concrete objects, pictures and graphs
iv) design an investigation to address a question
v) collect data using observations, surveys and experiments
vi) represent data using tables and graphs like line plots and
bar graphs
vii) recognize the differences in representing categorical and
numerical data

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- For lower secondary students, they should
be able to
i) formulate questions, design studies and
collect data shared by two populations or
different characteristics within one
population
ii) select, create and use suitable graphical
representations of data like histograms,
box-plots and scatter-plots

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- For upper secondary students, they should be able to
i) know the characteristics of well-designed studies,
including the role of randomization in surveys and
experiments
ii) understand the meaning of measurement data and
categorical data, univariate and bivariate data and the
term variable.
iii) understand histograms, frequency polygons, parallel
box-plots and scatter-plots and use them to display data
iv) understand the distinction between a statistic and a
parameter

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Standard 2: Select and use appropriate statistical methods to

analyze data
- For primary school students, they should be able to
i) describe the shape and important features of a data set like on
how the data are distributed
ii) use measures of centre and indicate what each does and does not
indicate about the data set
iii) compare different representations of the same data
- For lower secondary students they should be able to
i) find, use and interpret measures of centre and spread including
inter-quartile range
ii) discuss and understand the correspondence between data sets
and their graphical representations especially, histograms, stem-andleaf plots, box-plots and scatter-plots.

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- For upper secondary students, they should be able to
i) (univariate measurement) display the distribution,
describe its shape, and select and calculate summary
statistics
ii) (bivariate measurement) display a scatter-plot,
describe its shape and determine regression coefficients
and equations, and correlation coefficients using
technology
iii) display and discuss bivariate data where at least one
variable is categorical.
iv) identify trends in bivariate data and find functions that
model the data

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Standard 3: Develop and evaluate inferences and predictions that

are based on data
For primary school students, they should be able to
i) propose and justify conclusions that are based on studies and
data
For lower secondary students, they should be able to
i) use observations about differences between two or more
samples to make conjectures about the populations from which
the samples were taken
ii) make conjectures about possible relationships between two
characteristics of a sample on the basis of scatter-plots of the
data and approximate lines of fit
iii) use conjectures to formulate new questions and plan new
studies to answer them

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- For upper secondary student, they should be able to
i) use simulations to explore the variability of sample
statistics from a known population
ii) construct sampling distribution and use it as the basis
for informal inference
ii) make point estimations for the population parameters
iv) evaluate published reports that are based on data
v) understand how basic statistical techniques are used
to monitor process characteristics in the workplace

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Standard 4 Understand and apply basic concepts of
probability
- For primary students, they should be able to
i) describe events as likely or unlikely and discuss the
degree of likelihood using words like certain, equally
likely, and impossible
ii) predict the probability of outcomes of simple
experiments and test the predictions
iii) understand that the measure of likelihood of an event
can be represented by a number from 0 to 1.

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- For lower secondary students, they should be
able to
i) understand and use appropriate terminology to
describe complementary and mutually exclusive
events
ii) use proportionality and a basic understanding
of probability to make and test conjectures about
the results of experiments and simulations
iii) compute probabilities for simple compound
events using such methods like organized list,
tree diagram and area model.

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- For upper secondary students, they should be
able to
i) understand the concepts of sample space,
probability distribution and construct sample
spaces and distributions of simple cases
ii) use simulations to construct empirical
probability distribution
iii) compute and interpret the expected valueof
random variables in simple cases
iv) understand the concepts of conditional
probability and independent events

Teaching Standards

Standard 1: Learning environment

Standard 2: Worthwhile statistical tasks
Standard 3: Tools for enhancing discourse
Standard 4: Teachers role in discourse
Standard 5: Students role in discourse
Standard 6; Analysis of teaching and
learning

Assessment standards
Standard 1: Assessment should reflect the statistics &
probability knowledge that all students need to know and
be able to do.
Standard 2: Assessment should enhance the learning of
statistics and probability
Standard 3: Assessment should provide equal
opportunities for students to succeed
Standard 4: Assessment should be an open process
Standard 5: Assessment should promote valid inferences
about statistics learning
Standard 6; Assessment should be a coherent process