Alice in randomland: a resource for improving attitudes towards probability and its teaching

Abstract

© International Association for Statistical Education (IASE/ISI)This article presents the results of a study aimed at examining how primary school teachers’ attitudes towards probability and its teaching are influenced by their use of an interactive story focused on sparking interest in probability and providing opportunities for learning this mathematical topic. A scale of attitudes towards probability and its teaching was applied to 40 prospective primary school teachers, before and after reading the book. This instrument was implemented with two focus groups. Preliminary results revealed significant changes in pre-service teachers’ attitudes, particularly in their feelings towards probability. This evidence attested to the potential of the book, especially considering that the participants had only studied the basics of this topic in previous courses