Probability – Teaching & Learning Research Initiative

Using home languages as a resource to enhance statistical thinking in a multicultural classroom

Introduction Aotearoa New Zealand is a super diverse nation in terms of the ethnicities of its people and languages spoken. With an increased rate of immigration (New Zealand Immigration, 2018) from various parts of the world, the presence of multiple languages in many domains of social life is a reality. Individuals may identify with several nationalities or racial groups and may speak combinations or mixtures of several languages (Dockrell et al., 2022; Education Review Office, 2018). Consequently, classrooms are now places where learners have different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, where they may speak one language at home and another at school, where teachers and students may not share a common language

Visualising chance: Learning probability through modelling

This report summarises the research activities and findings from the TLRI-funded project entitled Visualising Chance: Learning Probability Through Modelling. This exploratory study was a 2-year collaboration among two researchers, two conceptual software developers/interactive graphics experts, three university lecturers/ practitioners, one master’s student, four teacher observers and one quality assurance advisor. The project team designed innovative software tools and associated tasks which aimed to expose introductory students to a modelling approach to probability. The study sought to discover what conceptual understanding of probability and what probabilistic reasoning could be promoted from such an approach. Key findings The ability to see structure in, and apply structure to, a problem situation is an important