An activity in a college statistics class had students go to a field of grass and clover and use a variety of estimation, probability, sampling, distribution, and calculation techniques for determining the number of flowers in the field. The activity focused on the discovery process, encouraged abstract reasoning, and was pleasurable. (MSE)

To investigate the origins and nature of intuitive obstacles affecting the learning of elementary probability theory, 618 Italian elementary and middle school students were interviewed about their methods of solution for several problems dealing with probability. The discussion focuses on four varieties of obstacles to learning prevalent within…