Students’ emergent reasoning about uncertainty exploring sampling distributions in an “integrated approach”.

We analyze students’ articulations of uncertainty during their first steps in exploring sampling distributions in a TinkerPlots2 inquiry-based learning environment. A new pedagogical “integrated approach” was implemented to help students understand the relationship between sample and population. We focus in this case study on two students (age 13, grade 7) who had previously participated in the Connections Project EDA activities. We describe the students’ articulations of uncertainty when they explore a sampling distribution of proportions, negotiate the interval of proportions they agree to accept as “correct results,” and express their confidence level in getting this interval.