Learning chance: Lessons from a learning-axes and bridging-tools perspective.

The paper builds on design-research studies in the domain of probability and statistics conducted in middle-school classrooms. The design, ProbLab (Probability Laboratory), which is part of Wilensky's 'Connected Probability' project, integrates: constructionist projects in traditional media; individual work in the NetLogo modeling-and-simulation environment; and networked participatory simulations in HubNet. An emergent theoretical model, 'learning axes and bridging tools,' frames both the design and the data analysis. The model is explicated by discussing a sample episode, in which a student reinvents sampling by connecting 'local' and 'global' perceptions of a population.