Students' thinking and writing in the context of probability

Book: 
Proceedings of the 20th annual meetings of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, People in Mathematics Education (MERGA)
Authors: 
Johnson, T. M., Jones, G. A., Thornton, C. A., Langrall, C. W., & Rous, A.
Editors: 
Biddulph, F. & Carr, K.
Type: 
Conference Paper
Category: 
Research
Year: 
1997
Publisher: 
University of Waikato Printery
Place: 
Rotorlla
URL: 
See compilation of Research Papers from 1997 ID # 2852 (Garfield & Truran)
Abstract: 

This study examined changes in students probabilistic thinking and writing during instruction emphasizing writing to learn experiences. A class of fifth grade students with no previous experiences in writing during mathematics made significant gains in probability reasoning and writing; however the correlation between probabilistic thinking and writing was not significant. Analysis of focus students revealed that their writing changed from narrative summaries to reasoned patterns and generalizations. However, some used invented representations without interpretation and were reluctant to write in mathematical contexts.

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