Discusses the relative effects of sample size and proportion in the use of sampling to investigate a population. Concludes that the nature of probability and statistics is such that in many situations, the reality is counterintuitive to many generally well-educated people who are not statistically trained. Discusses implications for educators.…

Surveys of (n=200 in 5 schools) secondary school students' preconceptions of probability found that, although these students had had no formal instruction in probability, they did have some notion of the topic. Includes survey. (Author/MKR)

Describes the generation of all the tables required for school-level study of statistics using Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet package. Highlights cumulative binomial probabilities, cumulative Poisson probabilities, normal distribution, t-distribution, chi-squared distribution, F-distribution, random numbers, and accuracy. (JRH)

Investigates an interesting application of probability in the world of sports. Considers the role of permutations in the lottery system used by the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States to determine the order in which nonplayoff teams select players from the college ranks. Presents a lesson on this topic in which students work…

Presents an educational game on probability that can be the starting point for an open-ended statistical project. (ASK)

Describes a lesson designed to teach the probabilistic topics of permutation and combinations in a constructivist manner. (ASK)

Demonstrates the advantages of a p-value as compared with a standard significance test procedure. Contains examples in the discussion of testing the mean of a normal distribution and testing a probability of proportion. (DDR)

Discusses student difficulties with probability concepts and argues that a key difficulty is the lack of transferability of pupils' curriculum-based knowledge. Presents several probability game activities to help students with these difficulties. (MKR)

Summarizes 19 papers presented at the Fourth International Conference on Teaching Statistics held in Morocco, July 1994. Papers presented were in five categories: (1) empirical studies on students' conceptions; (2) theoretical papers on teaching and learning; (3) assessment; (4) using computers in teaching probability and statistics; and (5) data…