Simulating Multi-step Experiments
5 min
Teacher Prep
Setup
Narrative
In this Warm-up, students consider a situation and propose questions related to the situation. While students may ask many different kinds of questions, the important discussion points are about understanding the context and the relationship to simulation and probability.
Launch
Tell students to close their books or devices (or to keep them closed). Arrange students in groups of 2. Introduce the context of businesses built around skiing. Use Co-Craft Questions to orient students to the context and elicit possible mathematical questions.
Give students 1–2 minutes to write a list of mathematical questions that could be asked about the situation before comparing questions with a partner.
Student Task
Alpine Zoom is a ski business. To make money over spring break, they need it to snow at least 4 out of the 10 days.
Sample Response
Sample responses:
- What is the probability it will snow each day?
- What is the probability the business will make money this spring break?
- Can we design a simulation to predict the weather for 10 days?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
Invite several partners to share one question with the class and record responses. Ask the class to make comparisons among the shared questions and their own. Ask, “What do these questions have in common? How are they different?” Listen for and amplify language related to the learning goal, such as “probability” and “simulation.”
If it does not come up, ask how students might find the probability of snow in the next few days (look at a weather forecast).
Standards
- 7.SP.8.c·Design and use a simulation to generate frequencies for compound events. <em>For example, use random digits as a simulation tool to approximate the answer to the question: If 40% of donors have type A blood, what is the probability that it will take at least 4 donors to find one with type A blood?</em>
- 7.SP.C.8.c·Design and use a simulation to generate frequencies for compound events. <span>For example, use random digits as a simulation tool to approximate the answer to the question: If 40% of donors have type A blood, what is the probability that it will take at least 4 donors to find one with type A blood?</span>
15 min
10 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
Simulating Multi-step Experiments
5 min
Teacher Prep
Setup
Narrative
In this Warm-up, students consider a situation and propose questions related to the situation. While students may ask many different kinds of questions, the important discussion points are about understanding the context and the relationship to simulation and probability.
Launch
Tell students to close their books or devices (or to keep them closed). Arrange students in groups of 2. Introduce the context of businesses built around skiing. Use Co-Craft Questions to orient students to the context and elicit possible mathematical questions.
Give students 1–2 minutes to write a list of mathematical questions that could be asked about the situation before comparing questions with a partner.
Student Task
Alpine Zoom is a ski business. To make money over spring break, they need it to snow at least 4 out of the 10 days.
Sample Response
Sample responses:
- What is the probability it will snow each day?
- What is the probability the business will make money this spring break?
- Can we design a simulation to predict the weather for 10 days?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
Invite several partners to share one question with the class and record responses. Ask the class to make comparisons among the shared questions and their own. Ask, “What do these questions have in common? How are they different?” Listen for and amplify language related to the learning goal, such as “probability” and “simulation.”
If it does not come up, ask how students might find the probability of snow in the next few days (look at a weather forecast).
Standards
- 7.SP.8.c·Design and use a simulation to generate frequencies for compound events. <em>For example, use random digits as a simulation tool to approximate the answer to the question: If 40% of donors have type A blood, what is the probability that it will take at least 4 donors to find one with type A blood?</em>
- 7.SP.C.8.c·Design and use a simulation to generate frequencies for compound events. <span>For example, use random digits as a simulation tool to approximate the answer to the question: If 40% of donors have type A blood, what is the probability that it will take at least 4 donors to find one with type A blood?</span>