Modeling Chance
The Ants and the Aardvark Students identify the paths ants
can take through an ant maze, to help an aardvark catch as many ants as
possible. Students begin by choosing the ant's path using a coin and
evaluating how often ants come out of different holes. They then model
the ants' paths, finally coming up with a list of all possible outcomes
and using this list to explain what they observed from the simulation.
The Ants and the Aardvark.zip (333.7 KB)
Wink, Blink, and StareStudents
determine whether the game Wink, Blink, and Stare is fair. To do so,
students first play the game themselves, and then use a sampler in TinkerPlots
to model the game and collect more data. Students then work toward
understanding why Wink is more likely. They are introduced to the terms simple outcome, combined outcome, and sample space. Finally, students use TinkerPlots
to play the game repeatedly, observing that a sample of 2,500 gives
them the results they expect more often than a sample of 100.
Wink Blink and Stare.zip (1 MB)
Four-Child FamiliesStudents
explore the distribution of the numbers of boys in families with four
children by predicting what the distribution of the number of boys in a
family will look like. Using TinkerPlots, they analyze data
from 160 families with four children. Then, students systematically
determine all possible simple outcomes and use them to construct the
expected distribution for the number of boys in a family with four
children, and calculate the probabilities of different outcomes.
Four-Child Families.zip (2.8 MB)
Sum of Two DiceStudents
explore various outcomes associated with rolling two dice. They start
by playing the Two-Dice Elimination game, and then simulate rolling two
dice many times using TinkerPlots to determine whether a step
model or triangle model of the distribution of sums is correct. Finally,
they use the triangle model to calculate the probability of rolling
each sum.
Sum of Two Dice.zip (535.6 KB)
Modeling a Candy FactoryStudents take on the roles of quality-control officers in a candy factory. They model the candy factory, using TinkerPlots, to investigate how likely it is that a bag of candy the company president received occurred by chance.
Modeling a Candy Factory.zip (578.4 KB)
Spooky SpinnersStudents
identify the commonly occurring letters in samples drawn from the
spinner and rearrange them into the password that unlocks the sampler.
Spooky Spinners.zip (164.3 KB)
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