Probability: Impossible to Certain

The last topic taught in 7th grade is probability. They develop their understanding of probability through analyzing experiments, calculating theoretical probabilities, and designing and running their own simulations to model real-world situations.

Standard: CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.5Understand that the probability of a chance event is a number between 0 and 1 that expresses the likelihood of the event occurring. Larger numbers indicate greater likelihood. A probability near 0 indicates an unlikely event, a probability around 1/2 indicates an event that is neither unlikely nor likely, and a probability near 1 indicates a likely event. 

Goal: I'd like to provide more visual representations of probability through out this topic include actual spinners, dice, coins. Additionally, I'd like to provide a better foundation in understanding of what is “fair” or likely or unlikely. Additionally, I'd like to make the connection between these understandings and the values, both decimal and fractional, between 0 and 1 that probabilities can take on. This may help bring any misconceptions to the surface that can be addressed throughout the unit.

ANSWERS:
a. unlikely
b. likely
c. unlikely
d. impossible
e.  answers may vary, have student explain why those their answer
f. equally likely
g. impossible
h. certain
i. equally likely
j. impossible

    Reflection: The problem above would make a great guided practice problem that will help students distinguish the differences between probability (impossible, not likely, unlikely, likely and certain) and as a class can arrive at our own definitions. I'd probably recreate the table to remove equally likely as to not confuse students and avoid misconceptions that may arise due to word choice. This is a topic I aim to change and make more multi-model at the end of this school year since I did find that students would confuse the vocabulary terms quite frequently.

    Additional Resources: 
    This website provides visual and interactive problems that involves probability:
    https://www.mathgames.com/skill/7.23-probability-of-simple-events
    Khan Academy for additional lesson review:
    https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-seventh-grade-math/cc-7th-probability-statistics/cc-7th-basic-prob/v/basic-probability?modal=1

    Comments

    1. Eleanor,
      I love that the way this activity is structured allows you to use events that are relevant to your students. I can see adding in something like the probability of winning concert tickets to whoever is popular with your students at the moment, or even predicting an event on the next episode of a popular show. I would have been much more engaged in thinking about these types of probability events than the standard, rolling a 2 on a dice, pulling a red card out of a deck, etc. This is also something that can pretty easily be tailored year after year as trends change. Great job!

      ReplyDelete
    2. Thanks for sharing the additional resources.

      ReplyDelete

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