Understanding Randomness: From Gimmicks to Effective Learning (original) (raw)

Activities for students that highlight important probabilistic ideas may appeal to teachers because they offer the chance to do something “fun” in the classroom, in contrast to “routine” activities. There is, however, a risk that these activities are not taken beyond the “gimmick”, falling short of providing deep and effective learning of key principles. When teacher educators share such an activity with teachers, how do they help teachers know how to use the activity effectively in the classroom, to go beyond superficial “entertainment” to deep “education”? Several scenarios, including an activity about coin-tossing runs intended to highlight features of randomness, will be used as examples to discuss issues such as identifying key concepts, using simulations effectively, determining “how much is enough”, and connecting theory with experiment.

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