The Foundations of Chance and Data

The author explains how the two fundamental ideas of variation and expectation underpin our teaching of chance and data. The fortunes of chance and data have fluctuated in the mathematics curriculum in Australia since their emergence in the National Statement (Australian Education Council [AEC], 1991) in the early 1990s. As discussions proceed on national consistency across the state mathematics curricula in Australia, the place of chance and data appears to be in further jeopardy.