Probabilistic Thinking Versus Statistical Thinking

We discuss the similarities and differences between probabilistic and statistical thinking, arguing in favour of metaphorising them as arrows pointing in opposite directions. We base our argument and discussion on concrete examples, drawn from our teaching experience to a broad spectrum of learners at the University of Chile and inspired by Brousseau’s fundamental adidactic situation for inferential statistics in primary school, and our own fundamental adidactic situations for probability. Learners involved include first year humanistic university students, prospective math teachers, and in-service primary school teachers and their students.