Lesson: This lesson will challenge students to think creatively by having them design and build water balloon catchers from random scrap materials, while requiring them to take into consideration a multitude of variables. Students will then construct at least two bar graphs to be used in a commercial advocating the purchase of their group's catcher.
Activity: Create a game spinner with variable sized sectors to look at experimental and theoretical probabilities. Parameters: Sizes of sectors, number of sectors, number of trials.
Activity: Choose one of N doors to experimentally determine the odds of winning the grand prize behind one of the doors, as in the TV program "Let's Make a Deal." Parameters: Number of doors, number of trials, staying or switching between the two remaining doors.
Activity: Compare theoretical and experimental probabilities, using dice, cards, spinners, or coin tosses. Three different probabilities can be compared at once. Parameters: Type of probabilities, number of trials.
Activity: Experiment with the outcome distribution for a roll of two dice by simulating a dice throwing game. Parameters: Which player wins with which total rolled.
Activity: Run a simulation of how a fire will spread through a stand of trees, learning about probability and chaos. Parameters: Probability that a tree catches fire if its neighbor is on fire.
Activity: Run the classic game of life, learning about probabilities, chaos and simulation. This activity allows the user to run a randomly generated world or test out various patterns. This is a very powerful activity with a wide range of options. It runs in a separate window.
Activity: Run the classic game of life, learning about probabilities, chaos and simulation. This activity allows the user to run a randomly generated world or test out various patterns. This is a simple activity which runs directly in the Interactivate window.
Activity: Learn about sampling with and without replacement by randomly drawing marbles from a bag. Parameters: Number and color of marbles in the bag, replacement rule.
Activity: Simulate a game where two players each roll a die, and the lucky player moves one step to the finish. Parameters: what rolls win and how many steps to the finish line.