Student Work A: This is a case of a student clearly catching on to the flow of a discussion, without thinking for themselves. In the midst of a group or whole class discussion, I commonly tell my students not to "be puppets" and think for themselves. This student clearly understood the goal of the task without internalizing any reasons for her claims. Although she understood the overall idea, her reasoning was just as flawed as the statistics she was seeking to refute.

Student Work B: This is an exemplary response from a student who conveyed her ideas in writing very well. I really appreciated how she worded the second paragraph as "Not necessarily..." When teaching flaws in statistical analysis, students often jump the gun and try to refute everything that is not statistically sound thinking. It is important to recognize that even though the data collected is not sufficient enough to make a claim, it doesn't mean that the claim itself might not be true... It just can't be concluded from the data that was gathered. I shared this "Not necessarily" wording with the whole class on the following day. Excellent work!