The appearance and development of the teaching of descriptive statistics in Hungarian mathematics education

Abstract

Hungary, the regular and significant appearance of (descriptive) statistics in elementary school curricula is due to the name and work of Tamás Varga (and his colleagues). Combinatorics, probability and statistics as a separate theme – was integrated into the elementary school curriculum in 1978. In this article, we examine two main questions, primarily concerning the 5-8 grade age group: 1) What traces of descriptive statistics can be discovered in the curricula before 1978 and in the related textbooks and supporting materials? 2) What is the proportion and function of the topic in curricula and related documents in 1978 and the following period? The research has revealed that, although descriptive statistics was only marginally formally introduced in education at the beginning of the 20th century, it was given an important role before this time.