Competencies in understanding statistical information in primary and secondary school levels: An inter-cultural empirical study with German and Colombian students

Abstract

This paper is devoted to examining the validity of a hierarchical competency model of statistical literacy by assessing the corresponding competency levels of primary and secondary students from Colombia and Germany. The results replicate prior findings and confirm the hierarchical competency model. The study has two novel components with respect to previous work on competency levels in statistical literacy: it examines elementary school performance and it includes an intercultural comparison. The competency scores reached by the students, however, suggest specific profiles of sub-groups of learners included in the study. The intercultural study is clearly exploratory since the samples both in Colombia and in Germany were not representative. The results point to interesting new questions and motivate further intercultural research