InMside II projectMarcela Santillán
MéxicoStatistics for middle school curriculum.
Statistics is called Information Management in primary and middle
school curricula.
Topics focused on central trend measures, probability, as well as
the analysis and interpretation of information presented in chartsand tables.
The National and international assessments have shown very low
results of Mexican children at 9th grade in these topics.

Results of National Examinations on Middle
SchoolLeveles

Information magement

Results

Level I (383-529)

They interpret the possibility of occurrence of the events of an experimentfrom a frequency plot. However, they have difficulty establishing central
trend measures when the data are not listed or to calculate probabilities.

10 out of 10

Level II (530-630)

Determine the value of the missing data of a set to adjust its arithmetic
mean to a preset value. Calculate the probability of a simple event.

5 out of 10

Level III (631-728)

They interpret and abstract information that is presented in graphs.
Calculate the probability of composite events. They compare and interpretthe probabilities associated with events in a random experience.

2 out of 10

Level IV (729-866)

They determine the median of a dataset, for an even number of data. They
solve arithmetic mean problems when data is presented on bar charts.

1 out of 10

What is going on in México
The ministry of education is working in a new curriculum for basic
education that will be implemented for 2022.
We just started working with 30 middle school teachers with the lesson
study approach.
We will be using Gapminder Tools, animated global statistics thateveryone can understand: https://www.gapmimder.org/tools/#$charttype=bubbles

Computational thinking
Problems:Low access to computers in middle schools.
Almost no connectivity.
In 2011 middle school curriculum incorporated a programme called“Digital Skills for All” it only worked for three years.
We have neither coding, nor artificial intelligence, in the upper highschool curriculum.

Computational thinking
The 3 proposed pillars of computational thinking are not parallel, butin a hierarchy:• traditional computational thinking, mathematical thinking and abstract(outside the computer) mathematical modelling skills (applying maths tomodel scientific phenomena)• mathematical modelling through computer coding• machine learning (a particular, and fairly abstract mode or paradigm ofmathematical modelling through computers, consisting of a mindset orperspective and a bag of tricks)

General Proposal
The bases then, which have to be taught first, for eventually reaching
the top of the hierarchy, are:• traditional coding• variables• control structures• data structures• control Flow
• …
• mathematical thinking• practising mathematical modelling through code

General Proposal (2)We intend to teach all these preliminary skills thus:• use of the python command line
• first as a kind of scientific calculator• then applying the skill learned to coding solutions ofmathematical problems• then coding simple mathematical models of naturalphenomena

General Proposal (3)It is possible, given appropriate software to provide a taste of thepower of machine learning:• with software that hides much of the complexity, while providing enoughcontrol to experiment;• but, while this provides motivation to further experiment with these techniques,• and perhaps some exposure to the basic concepts,• any deeper learning and mastery of the techniques has to wait for the other underlying
skills to be developed;• it is nevertheless desirable to compile a list of software which fulfils thisfunction, if there is any, as a resource for us and for the rest of thiscommunity.

Computational thinking
We start working with our middle school teachers in our newenvironment
http://educere.jerx.net

For the opportunity and your attention
Thank you very much!