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Title
Inferring to a model: using inquiry-based argumentation to challenge young children's expectations of equally likely outcomes
Author(s)
Makar, Katie
Publication Date
2015
Abstract
<p>Children's informal reasoning about uncertainty can be considered a product of their beliefs, language, and experiences, much of which is formed outside of formal schooling. As a result, students can adopt informal intuitions that are incompatible with formal reasoning. Although the creation of cognitive conflict has been considered as one means of challenging students' understandings, prior research in probability suggests that students may simultaneously hold multiple, incompatible understandings without conflict arising. Design-based methodology was adopted to investigate young (7–8 years old) students' inferential reasoning under uncertainty, using an inquiry-based unit developed around addition bingo. This paper selectively reports on students' inferences that initially suggested they were tacitly working from a uniform distribution (equiprobability bias), but shifted as students collected empirical data (from a discrete symmetric triangular distribution). Their inferences were challenged using an argumentation framework, with particular emphasis on the need for defensible evidence. Initial findings suggest potential for argumentation and inferential approaches that make students’ conceptions explicit through 'visibilizing' their knowledge.</p>
Publication Type
Conference Publication
Source of Publication
Reasoning About Uncertainty: Learning and Teaching Informal Inferential Reasoning, p. 1-27
Publisher
Catalyst Press
Place of Publication
Minnesota, United States of America
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020
Peer Reviewed
Yes
HERDC Category Description
ISBN
9780692491645
Peer Reviewed
Yes
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