The Countermeasure Research On Mathematics Prospective Teachers’ Understanding Of The Concept Of Probability

Probability is an important content in middle school’s mathematics curriculum, and the concept of probability is the core among its category. Whether students can correctly comprehend the concept of probability and understand the thinking model of probability depends on the teachers’comprehension of probability to a large extent. And the purpose of my study is to evaluate prospective teachers’understanding of the concept of probability and to discuss how to improve it.This study examined the understanding of the concept of probability among Juniors and Seniors majoring in mathematics in Fujian Normal University (n=108) by using the researcher-developed questionnaires. The results indicate that students hardly exist the gambler’s fallacy, however most of them show evidence of the equiprobability bias, simple compound method, outcome approach, conjunction fallacy and exhibit ignorance of the effect of sample size. And most students lack a deep understanding of conditional probability, statistical probability and the axiomatic definition of probability. Meanwhile the results also reveals that most students neglect the comprehension of probability and be tired of concluding and thinking, thus, gradually become passive on study.Based on this survey, this paper creatively puts forward some proposals to improve prospective teachers’ understanding of the concept of probability. It mainly includes the connection of teaching content between normal university and senior middle school, the improvement of teaching and learning methods, and the reform of curriculum system.