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Dinosaur Hunt

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Heather Cameron & Kelsey Parsons Dinosaur Hunt Grade Level: 3rd According to NCTM: In grades 3–5, students should understand and apply basic concepts of probability and be able to… • describe events as likely or unlikely and discuss the degree of likelihood using such words as certain, equally likely, and impossible; • predict the probability of outcomes of simple experiments and test the predictions; • understand that the measure of the likelihood of an event can be represented by a number from 0 to 1. Description: This activity is designed to help students understand that probability is like a prediction in math. By doing a basic experiment using colored dinosaurs, students will be able to describe probability outcomes as likely, unlikely, equally likely, certain, or impossible, and determine the chances of drawing each color from a box. After students determine the experimental probability, they will discover the theoretical probability by looking at the dinosaurs and recording the likelihood of drawing each color. Prerequisite Knowledge: • Number sense (counting) • Data usage and representation …show more content…

The activity is called “Dinosaur Hunt” and is designed to help students pursue their natural mathematical curiosity of chance. It is important that children get hands-on experience with mathematical concepts that so they can begin to grasp new content and clarify their own thinking. For example, students will work on this activity with a partner and learn about experimental and theoretical probability without being taught the formal definitions of these concepts. Theoretical probability is what we expect to happen when doing an experiment based on the possible outcomes, and experimental probability is what actually happens when we try it out. Students will discover the difference between experimental and

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