Introducing comparison between data sets

What does research suggest about effective ways to introduce comparison between data sets?

Comparison between data sets is a crucial composite skill and more research/teacher support is required in this area
Students should be encouraged to explore and inquire about data and to create and use multiple representations
Students should be encouraged to start with more informal ideas about shape before moving on to more formal conceptions (and language) such as mean, median and, later, quartiles
Teachers should help students to understand data flexibly: as an aggregate as well as a set of individual cases (see infographic)
From early stages teachers should be clear with students about the difference between sample and population, and explore the effect of sampling in more detail later on
Students should start with identifying and then interpreting differences between data sets, considering ideas of measurable conjectures, variability, context and inference
Specifically designed software such as TinkerPlots and Fathom can support learning

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