Findings on children's proportional reasoning abilities strongly vary across studies. This might be due to the different contexts that can be used in proportional problems: fair-sharing, mixtures, and probability. A review of the scientific literature suggests that the context of proportional problems may not only impact the difficulty of the…

Problems teaching probability in Tonga (in the South Pacific) led to the question on how language and culture affect the understanding of probability and uncertainty. The research uses a discursive approach to identify the endorsed narratives which underlie Tongans' reasoning in situations of uncertainty. I aim to justify the claim that the Tongan…

There is ample evidence that reasoning about stochastic phenomena is often subject to systematic bias even after instruction. Few studies have examined the detailed learning processes involved in learning probability. This paper examines a case study drawn from a large corpus of data collected as part of a research project that dealt with the…

Currently, instruction pays little attention to the development of students' sampling variability reasoning in relation to statistical inference. In this paper, we briefly discuss the especially designed sampling variability learning experiences students aged about 15 engaged in as part of a research project. We examine assessment and…

The explicit, experimental introduction of a series of logical inconsistencies is described and recommended as a means of disrupting the faulty logic and, thereby, enhancing the use of more appropriate probabilistic reasoning by graduate students enrolled in an introductory inferential statistics course. (14 references) (JJK)

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…