• Journal for History of Mathematics
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.211-231
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• 2014

Although Monty Hall dilemma is used in many areas including philosophy, economics, and psychology, it is used in the current mathematics textbooks only as a material for reading or one of probability questions. The present study tries to explore students' understanding of Monty Hall dilemma through a class case. In this study, a group of high-school students participated in group activities, in which they read an argument about Monty Hall dilemma, and tried to resolve it through small-group and whole-class discussions, and then studied the conditional probability. The analysis supports the studies in psychology that intuitive understandings on probability do not change easily, and that counter-intuitivity in Monty Hall dilemma induces confusion and offers a basis for discussions among students. Similar results are anticipated when other dilemmas on probability are used.