The differences of probabilistic thinking between ordinary students and students talented in mathematics and science across grade levels

The purposes of this article were to assess the differences of probabilistic thinking between ordinary students and students talented in mathematics and science with respect to grade levels, and to investigate the evolution of probabilistic thinking for students talented in mathematics and science as students advance through school. We have selected students in grades 7, 8, 10, and 11 from students in three different groups: students attending ordinary middle schools and high schools, middle school students taking additional education for students talented in mathematics and science, and students having a science-oriented curriculum at a science high school. It was found that the mean of probabilistic thinking for both class levels increases as students advance through school, and that the talented groups had higher probabilistic thinking means than the ordinary groups at each grade level. Furthermore, it was discovered that the gender differences of the mean probabilistic thinking varied with class and grade levels.