It is probably a pattern: does spontaneous focusing on regularities in preschool predict reasoning about randomness four years later?
Educ Stud Math
; 112(1): 3-24, 2023.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36277373
ABSTRACT
The many studies with coin-tossing tasks in literature show that the concept of randomness is challenging for adults as well as children. Systematic errors observed in coin-tossing tasks are often related to the representativeness heuristic, which refers to a mental shortcut that is used to judge randomness by evaluating how well a set of random events represents the typical example for random events we hold in our mind. Representative thinking is explained by our tendency to seek for patterns in our surroundings. In the present study, predictions of coin-tosses of 302 third-graders were explored. Findings suggest that in third grade of elementary school, children make correct as well as different types of erroneous predictions and individual differences exist. Moreover, erroneous predictions that were in line with representative thinking were positively associated with an early spontaneous focus on regularities, which was assessed when they were in second year of preschool. We concluded that previous studies might have underestimated children's reasoning about randomness in coin-tossing contexts and that representative thinking is indeed associated with pattern-based thinking tendencies.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Tipo de estudio:
Clinical_trials
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Educ Stud Math
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Bélgica