'Plot 1 is all spread out and Plot 2 is all squished together”: exemplifying statistical variation with young students

The idea of variation is a foundation of statistical reasoning, and many curriculum documents, including the Australian Curriculum, include variation in the learning required for the primary years. In this paper, we consider the design of activities that can exemplify the idea of variation for young students and investigate how students can use graphs to support discussions about variation. The use of appropriate contexts and the provision of physical experiences of the phenomena seemed to help students make sense of graphical representations and allowed them to discuss how variation was exemplified in the graphs.