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


Authors: 
Metz, K. E.
Category: 
Pages: 
285-365
Publisher: 
Cognition and Instruction
Abstract: 

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.

The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education