Objective   8 Design and conduct experiments to answer one's own questions.

Problem   Is it easier to roll a 3 with a regular six-sided die, or to flip 4 coins and get 3 to show 'heads'?

Manipulative   Materials: Materials: event cards, overhead spinner, blank spinner mat, pencil, 6-sided die, playing cards, 4 beans & a cup, paper bag, color tiles. Draw 2 event cards if one of the cards is a spinner card, create or use a spinner mat with four equal sections, numbered one through four). if one of the cards uses the color tiles, place 5 blue, 3 red and 2 yellow tiles in a paper bag. Study the cards carefully, and make a decision: which of the events is more likely? Record your prediction. Construct an experiment to test your prediction. Write a sentence about what you discovered. Repeat, but using a different pair of event cards.

Game   Materials: overhead spinner, blank spinner mat, pencil. Each player should design a spinner containing the numbers 1 through 4 which when twirled 6 times is likely to land on the '1' space 3 of those 6 times. After each player has constructed his or her spinner mats, conduct the experiment. The player who after 6 spins, has the count closest to 3 scores a single point. If the player has landed on 1 exactly 3 times, score two points. Play several rounds, highest score wins. Adaptations: Provide the players with several pre-made spinner mats and ask them to select one instead of making their own.

Return to the objectives list