Learning and assessment in statistics

The main role of assessment is to support learning, and any view of assessment implies a corresponding view of learning. Research on students’ conceptions of statistics, learning in statistics and assessment, suggests that there is a clear variation from narrow to broad views. Another dimension is students’ perceptions of their future professional roles and how that impacts on their present studies. In order to support the learning process, assessment should be structured in such a way as to make apparent to students the full range of variation in conceptions and to encourage them towards the broadest and most inclusive ideas. Further, it is important that the approach to assessment has coherence with the overall pedagogical approach.