Title your post: Strategy 5- Math, middle grades
Your Name: Mandy Jennings
Name of Strategy: Probability Spreadsheets (Technology)
Source (Where did this come from?): Hotchalk’s Lesson Plans Page
Link to the Strategy: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MathCIProbSpreadsheets6HS.htm
Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source: Students will start the activity by completing an experiment. For the example, the experiment will be flipping a coin. As the students flip the coin, they record how many times it lands on heads and how many times it lands on tails. Students will then proceed to use a computer data program, such as Microsoft Excel to record and graph their results. They could also use a graphing calculator to graph their results. They could then use the line of best fit function to help them determine a rough equation that would represent the probability of landing on heads or tails. Using either the Microsoft program or the graphing calculators would bring a technology element to the classroom and would allow the students to show a digital representation of the results of their experiment along with helping them to compare their experimental results with the theoretical results for the study.
Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity. There are several parts of the standard course of study that this activity will address. The experiment used to show how this strategy could work would cover competency goal 4 under sixth grade mathematics. The goal requires the student to become fluent in probabilities- including using a sample space, conducting experiments, comparing experimental results to theoretical results, and presenting their results. This particular strategy would also help the students address the technological portion of the standard course of study. Students are required to demonstrate the ability to use technology in several formats. Being able to use the digital presentation for results and using the calculator to graph and assign a line of best fit will allow the student to demonstrate their growth in the technological field.
Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn? I expect this strategy to work because it will allow the students to conduct experiments to test the hypothesis that they have set for this trial. In order to set a hypothesis, the students must present prior knowledge by showing how to set theoretical probabilities. They will then be allowed to test their theoretical probability. In physically doing the experiments, the student will be allowed to either support what they have hypothesized or should be able to see that their hypothesis could be wrong. At this point, the teacher should be able to guide their students to the “correct” answer for their experiment. Having the physical manipulatives and being able to experience the information in several different ways will help the students to internalize the information.
