On Monday, we began our unit on Probability. We started with something I like to call the Rock, Paper, Scissors Challenge. Students were asked to see if they could figure out a winning strategy for the game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. We then tracked our results and figured out the "experimental probability" of each outcome. We learned that experimental probability is results that actually occur from performing a probability experiment - in this case the Rock, Paper, Scissor games.
After determining the experimental probability, we learned how to express this probability as a fraction, decimal or percent. Today we learned about theoretical probability (the probability of the expected outcomes) and how to identify a number of ways to figure out what all the possible outcomes can be. First we learned about making an organized list to ensure we don't miss or double count any outcomes. Then we learned about making a tree diagram. Students are encouraged to use whichever method works best for them.
A large part of this unit involves relating probability to fractions, decimals and percents, and in determining all the possible outcomes of a probability experiment, so we will be practicing these quite a lot over the next few days. Here is a blendspace unit I put together to help students better understand these concepts:
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