This paper is from Session 6D: Teaching probability to future teachers of mathematics and statistics

which comes under Topic 6: Innovation and reform in teaching probability within statistics

Step-by-step activities in the classroom preparing to teach the frequentist definition of probability

Presenter

• Lisbeth Cordani (University of São Paulo, Brazil)

Abstract

Due to the explicit insertion of Statistics and Probability into the National Mathematics Curriculum in Brazil, since the end of the twentieth century, increasing numbers of local teachers at the basic school (pre-university) level have shown an interest in learning statistics. This paper describes the details of an activity for explaining the frequentist definition of probability often offered by the author as a workshop in pre-service training courses. Hidden concepts used to facilitate comprehension by teachers in training are presented, and some of the main difficulties encountered by students during the activity are described. These difficulties include the practice of transforming qualitative results (e.g., Heads or Tails in a coin throw) into quantitative ones (i.e., 1 or 0, respectively); the concept of cumulative frequencies; and, finally, the alternation style of Heads and Tails to consider the experiment a random phenomenon.