The relationship between probabilistic thinking and proportional reasoning among the students of secondary stage in Al-Dawaser valley governorate

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the level of probabilistic thinking and the level of proportional reasoning and identify the relationship between them among students in the first secondary grade in Wadi Al-Dwasir governorate.To achieve this goal, a test consisted of (21) items on probabilistic thinking was conducted. The test focused on three probability concepts: sample space, possibility event, and probability comparisons. Another test on proportional reasoning was conducted. It consisted of (21) items. The test was to address there concepts: proportionality, direct proportion and inverse proportion, and proportional division. The two tests were cheeked for validity and reliability by using appropriate methods.The researcher applied study tools to a sample of (290) students. They were randomly chosen from the first secondary grade in five public schools in Wadi Al-Dwasir governorate, saudi Arabia.The results of the study demonstrated that the level of probabilistic thinking and the level of proportional reasoning for the study population was, educationally, below the acceptance level. Also, there is, statistically, low direct proportional correlation at the significance level of (α = 0.05) for the study population.The study concluded that a considerable attention needs to be paid to the development of probabilistic thinking and proportional reasoning, the understanding of probability concepts, and concepts of proportionality. To this end, modern teaching strategies should be used, and more research to be conducted to discover and identify the factors and other variables that influence the development of probabilistic thinking among student in secondary level.Keywords: probability, probabilistic thinking, proportionality, direct and inverse proportional, proportional reasoning.