Developmental stages and important periods of probability cognition in 6 to 14 year-old students

Abstract

This study chose 906 students of 6 to 14 years of age and focused on the developmental stages and important periods of probability cognition. The study shows that probability cognition of students aged 6-14 experiences the following 5 stages: slow development stage I (6-7 years old), quick development stage I (8-9 years old), slow development stage II (10 years old), quick development stage II (11-12 years old) and stagnant stage (13-14 years old). Additionally, there are two important periods in students’ cognitive development: 8-9 years old is the first period and 11-12 is the second. Even at the highest development stage, students can just understand the number representation, probability distribution and fraction representation while ca not reach the mastery level, which suggests the limitation of students’ probability cognition. Accordingly, curriculum should take students’ cognitive development level into account and set reasonable cognitive objectives.