Fostering Probabilistic Reasoning Away from Fallacies: Natural Information Formats and Interaction between School Levels

Francisco Vargas; Tommaso Benincasa; Giuseppe Cian; Laura Martignon

doi:10.29333/iejme/5716

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Francisco Vargas ¹ ² ^* , Tommaso Benincasa ¹ ³, Giuseppe Cian ³, Laura Martignon ²

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¹ Universidad el Bosque, COLOMBIA² Ludwigsburg University of Education, GERMANY³ Leonardo da Vinci School, COLOMBIA^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

The article reports an empirical study on the introduction of elementary probabilistic concepts in school, focusing on tasks related to the psychological tradition of heuristics and biases. The concepts involved were studied using an extensional natural frequencies approach. We describe the school intervention conducted in an interaction across different school levels (5th and 9th grades) with the aim of promoting motivation and cooperation thereby strengthening learning. The different tests were assessed both qualitatively (based on argumentation analyses) and quantitatively. The results provide further evidence on the diversity of obstacles tied to probabilistic notions. More importantly, they exhibit an overall improvement in performance of students at both levels. This work confirms the efficacy of natural frequencies in eliciting the intended interpretation of probabilistic tasks and suggests that an appropriate interaction between different scholastic levels can be implemented as a fruitful learning arrangement.

Keywords

probabilistic thinking
natural frequencies
conjunction fallacy
cooperative learning
learning through teaching

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INT ELECT J MATH ED, Volume 14, Issue 2, May 2019, 303-330

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5716

Publication date: 17 Feb 2019

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How to cite this article

APA

Vargas, F., Benincasa, T., Cian, G., & Martignon, L. (2019). Fostering Probabilistic Reasoning Away from Fallacies: Natural Information Formats and Interaction between School Levels. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 14(2), 303-330. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5716

Vancouver

Vargas F, Benincasa T, Cian G, Martignon L. Fostering Probabilistic Reasoning Away from Fallacies: Natural Information Formats and Interaction between School Levels. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2019;14(2):303-30. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5716

AMA

Vargas F, Benincasa T, Cian G, Martignon L. Fostering Probabilistic Reasoning Away from Fallacies: Natural Information Formats and Interaction between School Levels. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2019;14(2), 303-330. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5716

Chicago

Vargas, Francisco, Tommaso Benincasa, Giuseppe Cian, and Laura Martignon. "Fostering Probabilistic Reasoning Away from Fallacies: Natural Information Formats and Interaction between School Levels". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2019 14 no. 2 (2019): 303-330. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5716

Harvard

Vargas, F., Benincasa, T., Cian, G., and Martignon, L. (2019). Fostering Probabilistic Reasoning Away from Fallacies: Natural Information Formats and Interaction between School Levels. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 14(2), pp. 303-330. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5716

MLA

Vargas, Francisco et al. "Fostering Probabilistic Reasoning Away from Fallacies: Natural Information Formats and Interaction between School Levels". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 14, no. 2, 2019, pp. 303-330. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/5716