Data Management and Probability
Data management and probability is in my opinion a critical strand of mathematics for students to learn. It is crucial because it helps to prepare our students for daily life by providing them with the necessary tools to collect, organize and analyze information that is all around them. Polls, trends and estimates are only a few examples of how data management is used in real life situations. Data management and probability can also be understood and recognized in various other subject areas such as social studied, health and physical education as well as science.
IFVP. Graphic Recording Data Management. Oct. 8, 2013. [Online Image]
Sourced from: http://bit.ly/2fKbYdG
In order to insure that students have a strong conceptual understanding of data management and probability, it is important to tier instruction in a way that offers students opportunities to engage deeply with mathematical concepts and relationships. Teaching in tiers provides opportunities for instruction to meet the needs of students who are working at different levels of mathematical understanding. The following example of finding the probabilities associated with tossing two coins and the tiers at which the problem can be approached or extended is as follows:
Tier 1: Students predict which outcomes: 2 heads, 2 tails, or 1 head and 1 tail, is more likely (or whether they are all likely) and conduct a probability experiment to test their predictions.
Tier 2: Students also consider the effect of the number of trials on experimental probability. They describe their reasoning in the context of typical misconceptions, such as "previous probability trials affect future trials" (for example, if a coin is tossed and comes up heads 5 times in a row, the probability of getting the head on the 6th toss decreases).
Tier 3: Students may also consider all possible outcomes (HH, HT, TH, TT) in order to explain why the probability of 1 head and 1 tail is 1/2, while the probability of 2 heads is 1/4. This is a first, informal step towards the development of an understanding of theoretical probability.
It is important to offer various meaningful and engaging learning activities that are tiered to foster a deeper understanding of data management and probability. Activities should center around; collection and organization of data, data relationships as well as probability. Teachers can facilitate this understanding by designing activities where students; collect and organize primary and secondary data, interpret and use charts and graph, including continuous line graphs, explain relationships between data sets and draw inferences from data, and determine the theoretical probability of an outcome in a probability experiment.
From stock markets to polls, to election predictions and results, data management is all around us. As educators it is our job to open the eyes of our students so that they recognize the significance that data management and probability has in our everyday lives.
Cheers until next week!
Ashley
References:
Ontario Ministry of Education. Data Management and Probability, Grades 4-6. 2008 [Online Document]. Sourced from: http://eworkshop.on.ca/edu/resources/guides/Guide_Data_Management_Probability_456.pdf
Comments
Post a Comment