Data Management and Probability Week 10

Hello Everyone,

Katic, K. 2015©. Fall Nature Walk with Grade 8s.

Let me begin by saying that this will be the second last blog post on my math blog for this semester, it is quickly coming to a close and I am very excited to begin my practicum placement in a few weeks! My Grade 8 classes have been amazing so far and I am really looking forward to teaching them multiple units and subjects! To the left I have included a photo from a nature walk that my associate teacher, students and I went on a few days ago, and like I have said before, sometimes there is nothing better then getting into nature and becoming inspired.

With that being said, I'm going to go right into what we have discussed in math class this week; Data Display and Analysis, Collecting and Describing Data, and Probability. From my own personal experience, I am a huge fan of probability, mostly due to the perceived randomness and the outcome of chance. The Small textbook it does an absolutely fantastic job with layout these chapters with great teaching strategies. For example, I am a huge fan with all of the probability games that teachers can show their students to explore the outcome of chance, such as spinners and card games (Small, 2013: 589). In regards to the Ontario Curriculum, students become introduced and begin to explore these topics in Grade 4, however as with anything in math, it is something they learn to explore from a very early age. When I am applying this to my Grade 8 classes, I am particularly fond of the Overall Expectation for them to be able to use probability models to make predictions about real-life events (Ontario Curriculum, 2005: 118) because I am a huge advocate for making math applicable to the real world in order for students to be interested and engage.

Speaking of engagement, here is what I consider to be the fun part of learning and expanding on mathematical processes: games!

Probably a Favourite,(2015). Introduction Game

I am only going to talk about one probability game because I think it is just that good, especially for Junior grades. This game, Probably a Favourite, combines auditory instruction with interaction from the user. This game is amazing because it beings with students having to identify the different representations of a whole in a card memory and matching game. Once students have this skill adequately understood they can move onto the game. The game is told almost like a movie, with interaction from the user as well as auditory instruction from the game.

Probably a Favourite (2015).

The user is instructed to determine the probability of selecting a type of candy out of the group of candies in this virtual candy shop. This not only makes the user understand that this is an applicable, real world problem, but it also gets them to think about probability, fractions and understanding proportional and ratio thinking. This game would probably not be enjoyed by the Intermediate grades as it reinforces basics about the above mathematical processes they should be familiar with, but it does provide that solid foundation for students. Should I teach Junior level math, I would definitely utilize this game in the classroom.

I hope that the above information has been helpful to everyone, feel free to comment below if you have any suggestions or questions! Stay warm during the upcoming holiday season!

References 
Mrs. MacIntosh's Website (2015). Probability Online Games. http://www.tvdsb.ca/webpages/cmacintosh/mathematics.cfm?subpage=193944 
Ontario. (2005). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8. (6th Ed). Toronto: Ontario, Ministry of Education. 
Small, M. (2013). Chapters 19, 20 and 21: Integers. In Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students, K-8. (2nd Ed.) Nelson Education. Toronto: Canada.