The purpose of this empirical study was to investigate the difficulties of learning statistics and probability amongst students pursuing Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) programme in University of Fort Hare in South Africa.
The approach was a mixed method, sampling 43 students, in which case a quantitative analysis (RM-ANOVA, RM-MANOVA & ANCOVA) dominated to test four propositions.
The findings revealed four conclusions: (1) students receiving deliberate instruction in how to solve problems do become better and are able to ‘think statistically’ (2) there was good reason to suggest that students’ level of specific mathematics skills impact on their statistical ability (3) in contrast, there was not enough supporting evidence to suggest that students’ intuitive notions of probability does get stronger with age and lastly (4) efficacy of computers in guiding design of instruction is an important component of statistical learning.
Most important implication of the study was that the use of strategies to improve students’ rational number concepts and ratio/proportion reasoning assists to recognise and confront common errors in students' statistical and probability thinking.