A fundamental aspect of statistical inference is representation of real-world data using statistical models. This article analyzes students' articulations of statistical models and modeling during their first steps in making informal statistical inferences. An integrated modeling approach (IMA) was designed and implemented to help students…

Explanations are considered to be key aids to understanding the study of mathematics, science, and other complex disciplines. This paper discusses the role of students' explanations in making sense of data and learning to reason informally about statistical inference. We closely follow students' explanations in which they utilize their experiences…

In a study, few subjects accepted empirical evidence of nonconservation of discontinuous quantity and weight. These findings were interpreted as support for the organismic-developmental claim that lower forms of reasoning are transformed into structurally more advanced forms. (Author/ED)