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The notions of meaning and sense, which are closely related to understanding, play an essential role in educational processes in general and, therefore, in the teaching and learning of mathematics....

A subject of growing interest in mathematics education is the affective domain and its effects on the teaching and learning processes, giving rise to different models of its components and conditio...

The viability of a theoretical model to analyse teaching and learning mathematical processes is presented in the paper. It is a model with five levels of analysis that are jointly applied to a classroom episode. We have constructed the model in order to describe (what has happened here?), explain (why has it happened?) and evaluate (what could be improved?) instruction processes in the mathematics classroom. Our work is based on a theoretical synthesis of aspects of the onto-semiotic approach applied to mathematical knowledge and instruction. Although some parts of the model are specific to mathematical activity, researchers from other educational areas can adapt them so that they can be used effectively to analyse other types of educational practices. The application of the model primarily seeks to provide a solid evaluation of the educational suitability of mathematics instruction processes.

This paper presents a survey of the reported research about students’ errors, difficulties and conceptions concerning elementary statistical concepts. Information related to the learning processes is essential to curricular design in this branch of mathematics. In particular, the identification of errors and difficulties which students display is needed in order to organize statistical training programmes and to prepare didactical situations which allow the students to overcome their cognitive obstacles. This paper does not attempt to report on probability concepts, an area which has received much attention, but concentrates on other statistical concepts, which have received little attention hitherto.