Which measure of central tendency is most useful? Grade 6 students’ expressed statistical literacy

Recently, the importance of statistical literacy has been stressed, and three central concepts in statistical literacy are the measures of central tendency: mean, median, and mode. This study explores aspects of statistical literacy expressed by 12–13-year-old students, focusing on mean, median, and mode. Their responses were analysed using a framework of statistical literacy that includes knowledge and dispositional elements. The results showed that students’ descriptions of the measures were mainly based on mathematical and vocabulary knowledge. When discussing what measure was easiest or hardest to explain, a variety of conceptions were expressed. Some explanations about the usefulness of the measures were related to context knowledge. Here, the median was an exception as students gave neither examples of contexts nor found the median useful outside the classroom.