The Chances Are, You Will do Great! A Review of Probability
Objective
Big Idea
Do Now
The students will be looking at the problem involving children. They will be asked to find the total outcomes if a family has 2 children. They may draw the sample space in a grid or a tree diagram. I’m not just looking for total outcomes. I want them to prove their answer to me using a visual (SMP 3 and 5)
Additionally, I want the to be able to determine what the probability of having 2 boys would be. (1/4). When student draw out the diagram, they can easily see the probability.
I chose this for the DO NOW as it sets the stage for our summative assessment review.
The Chain Link Game
In this activity the students will be working in heterogeneous groups of four. I like to do this when reviewing so students can peer tutor as needed. The chain link review allows students to work as a group to solve the problems. The students will be reviewing concepts learned throughout this unit to prepare for their summative assessment.
As an extension to this activity, students can answer their probabilities using fractions, decimals and percents.
One thing I like to do during the chain link is to keep track of problems that I continually have to send students back to do over. I will use these problems during my final discussion to dispel any misconceptions that may have come about.
Chain link supports mathematical practices 1,3,5
Closure
Use the questions the student had difficulty with as final, whole group discussion. The final discussion questions will be based on student need. If students don’t have any concerns, I will ask them the following questions.
- When finding the probability of an event occurring, what do you need to do? (I’m looking for students to tell me that depending on the situation, they could draw a diagram or write the probability as a fraction/ratio of favorable outcomes over total number of outcomes)
- How can we find total outcomes? (I’m looking for students to tell me they could either draw a diagram or multiply the number of outcomes together)
- When predicting an event to happen, how would you go about solving? (I’m looking for students to say they could set up a ratio table to assist with their calculations or they may just need to simplify their fraction)
