Description
Move planes along numbered lanes on an airport runway. Add the numbers on a pair of dice to determine which plane takes off. Try to predict which lane is most likely to clear quickly. Explore how many rolls are needed to match a chosen number five times. Look at an explanation of uneven distributions. Compare the theoretical data distribution with experimental results. This learning object is one in a series of 11 objects.
Key learning objectives
- Students collect and handle data about random events to test conjectures about variation and probabilities.
- Students interpret frequency graphs to identify theoretical probabilities.
- Students distinguish between even and uneven data distributions.
- Students compare theoretical and experimentally derived data distributions.
- Students relate the shape of data distributions to statements about sample variation and sample size.
Educational value
- Provides scenarios for students to use dice as a means to explore relationships between bias, proportions, sample size, random variation,, and statistical distributions.
- Demonstrates that conclusions based on small sample sizes can be incorrect due to random variation.
- Includes scenarios involving an uneven distribution.
- Introduces mathematical ideas underpinning uneven distributions via an on-screen tutorial.
- Automatically collates experimental results and finishes them if they require many trials.