[johnsju]

I'm going to start teaching probability next week, but since I've never done this before, I don't really know what is best to start with. I've found some great ideas in the archives, but how do you introduce the concept? Is there some sort of common sense progression? Thanks in advance!

[beachmom]

Use m&ms or the letters in their names.
One difficult problem I gave them after teaching probabillity was:
If I had the letters T R E N T O N in a bag what was the probability of pulling out an "N" however, the worksheet had letters falling out of a bag and two of them staying inside. A letter "N" and "O" were left unseen, so of course many of them said 1 out of 5. Practice, practice, practice....

[angel77]

This is one of my favourite math units.
I always start with showing a clip of Jumangi where Allan is sucked into the game. We talk about what itwill take to get him out of the game and they give their guesses. Then I hand out dice and have them roll until they get the right combination. They have a sheet with the numbers 2 to 12 and they check off as they roll.
We compare answers and then we start with a discussion of why and this leads to probability.
The next acitivity would be with those Valentine heart activities. I have them choose 6 hearts - 3 of one colour, 2 of another colour and 1 of a third colour. These are all placed in a paper bag.
They then make a guess and then pull out a heart. Once they have done this 5times, they guess which colour they will pick the most if they drew 10 times. Then they have to explain their reasoning.
We use dice, cards, pennies ( how many heads vs tails) spinners - all to get them to see what probability is.
At the end they create a game and must discuss the rules and what the probability factor is in their game. We play these on Valentine's Day.

[hb11]

I start with introducing the vocab. terms more likely, less likely, impossible, etc. Dice games are a great place to start. Also, we make spinners and discuss fair and unfair games.

There is a great Valentine's day probability activity here:
http://www.mathwire.com/index.html
Check the topics page for other probability activities as well
Good luck!

[johnsju]

Thank you for the fun ideas...these are a lot more interesting than our textbook I can't wait to try them this week!!