Normative discourse about probability requires shared meanings for disciplinary vocabulary. Previous research indicates that students' meanings for probability vocabulary often differ from those of mathematicians, creating a need to attend to developing students' use of language. Current standards documents conflict in their recommendations about…

The authors analyzed the development of 4th-grade students' understanding of the transition from experimental relative frequencies of outcomes to theoretical probabilities with a focus on the foundational statistical concepts of variation and expectation. After observing the decreasing variation from the theoretical probability as the sample size…

This study is a longitudinal look at the different mathematics placement profiles of Black students and White students from late elementary school through 8th grade. Results revealed that Black students had reduced odds of being placed in algebra by the time they entered 8th grade even after controlling for performance in mathematics. An important…

Sampling tasks and sampling distributions provide a fertile realm for investigating students' conceptions of variability. A project-designed teaching episode on samples and sampling distributions was team-taught in 6 research classrooms (2 middle school and 4 high school) by the investigators and regular classroom mathematics teachers. Data…

The overreliance on linear methods in students' reasoning and problem solving has been documented and discussed by several scholars in the field. So far, however, there have been no attempts to assemble the evidence and to analyze it is a systematic way. This article provides an overview and a conceptual analysis of students' tendency to use…

This study investigates the effects on achievement of allowing students to ask questions before homework is collected v allowing questions only after homework has been graded and returned. Results indicate allowing questions before homework is collected is the superior method. (MK)

Examines possible differences in secondary students' conceptions of randomness before and after instruction in probability, which occurs for Spanish students between the ages of 14 and 17. Indicates that students' subjective understanding of randomness is close to some interpretations of randomness throughout history. Contains 16 references.…

Interviews of one child through grades one through five on several combinatorics tasks indicated the student's progress in classifying, organizing, and reorganizing data. Provides significant insight into the process by which the student learned to make proofs. (Author/MKR)

Evaluates the thinking of third grade students in relation to an instructional program in probability which was informed by a research-based framework that included a description of students' probabilistic thinking. Reveals that overcoming misconceptions in sample space, applying both part-part and part-whole reasoning, and using invented language…

This article describes a subset of results from a larger study (Rubel, 2002) that explored middle school and high school students' probabilistic reasoning abilities across a variety of probabilistic contexts and constructs. Students in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11 at an urban, private school for boys (n = 173) completed a Probability Inventory,…

Describes a study that investigated probabilistic intuitions held by students (N=98) from grade 7 through college through the use of a questionnaire. Of the misconceptions that were investigated, availability was the only one that was stable across age groups. Contains 20 references. (DDR)

Forty-eight students with no previous exposure to probability or statistics read one of three textbooks that varied in emphasis placed on rote and conceptual learning of basic elementary probability concepts. Findings, among others, show students who read textbooks emphasizing conceptual learning tended to be less sensitive to surface features.…

Examined inconsistencies in secondary school students' reasoning about the probability concept of equally likely events. Results of two studies suggest that the number of students who understand the concept of independence is much lower than the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results indicate. (Contains 22 references.) (MDH)