Emergent understanding and attribution of randomness: Comparative analysis of the reasoning of primary grade children and undergraduates

Compared kindergartners', third graders', and undergraduates' understanding and attribution of randomness. Found that kindergartners' interpretations were deterministic or outside the determinancy-indeterminancy frame. Most third graders had some grasp of randomness; their interpretations were less dominated by false attribution of determinism than kindergartners'. Undergraduates also showed performance deficiencies, suggesting that interpreting random phenomena constitutes a nontrivial challenge even for adults.