Basic Probability Lesson Plan: Statistics and Probability

Grade Levels: 6-8

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Basic Probability, and supports the standard of investigating chance processes and developing, using, and evaluating probability models. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Show the class a die. Ask:

What are my chances of rolling a three? What are the chances I will roll a six?

Prompt students to explain their reasoning. Then roll the die to see if you made the odds.

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

Read the description on the Basic Probability topic page.
Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “Fun & Games” or “Did You Know?” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS

Assign Basic Probability Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about basic probability while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

Make-a-Movie: Produce a game show in which players compete to determine the probability of rolling different outcomes of two dice.
Make-a-Map: Create a concept map identifying the probability of flipping two coins and landing on different combinations of heads and tails.
Creative Coding: Code a game challenging players to determine whether or not certain situations have a probability of 1/2 .

More to Explore

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of statistics and probability with these topics: Compound Events, Independent and Dependent Events, and Statistics.

Teacher Support Resources:

Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas.
Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Grade: 07

CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.5

Understand that the probability of a chance event is a number between 0 and 1 that expresses the likelihood of the event occurring. Larger numbers indicate greater likelihood. A probability near 0 indicates an unlikely event, a probability around 1/2 indicates an event that is neither unlikely nor likely, and a probability near 1 indicates a likely event.

Grade: 07

CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.6

Approximate the probability of a chance event by collecting data on the chance process that produces it and observing its long-run relative frequency, and predict the approximate relative frequency given the probability. For example, when rolling a number cube 600 times, predict that a 3 or 6 would be rolled roughly 200 times, but probably not exactly 200 times.

Grade: 07

CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.7a

Develop a uniform probability model by assigning equal probability to all outcomes, and use the model to determine probabilities of events. For example, if a student is selected at random from a class, find the probability that Jane will be selected and the probability that a girl will be selected.

Grade: 07

CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.8a

Understand that, just as with simple events, the probability of a compound event is the fraction of outcomes in the sample space for which the compound event occurs.

Grade: 07

CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.8b

Represent sample spaces for compound events using methods such as organized lists, tables and tree diagrams. For an event described in everyday language (e.g., “rolling double sixes”), identify the outcomes in the sample space which compose the event.

Filed as: 6-8, Basic Probability, BrainPOP, CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.5, CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.6, CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.7a, CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.8a, CCSS.Math.Content.7.SP.C.8b, Lesson Ideas, Lesson Plan

Basic Probability Lesson Plan: Statistics and Probability

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

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