Do Secondary School Students’ Strategies in Solving Permutation and Combination Problems Change with Instruction?

Abstract This work is part of an investigation conducted in Italy, which aims to explore the effects instruction on secondary school students’ combinatorial reasoning. We gave a questionnaire adapted from Navarro-Pelayo’s research two groups students with and without combinatorics order analyse performances strategies used their solutions, as well effect same. present results obtained permutation combination problems (each distribution selection models). Permutation were found easier than problems, after instruction, group better results. differences main both groups: enumeration dividing problem parts was more common no-instruction group. The frequently relied use formula product rule.