| Approach: |
One
to one |
|
Level: Year
8 |
| Focus: |
Understanding
randomness and probability |
|
| Resources:
|
2
graphs |
|
|
| Questions/instructions: |
|
Matt
likes black jelly beans the best. But he thinks that there are
always fewer black ones than the other colours. He wants to write
to the makers asking them to put more black ones in. Matt’s
teacher told him he should have some data or information to support
what he is saying.
|
| |
|
| |
%
responses
2009 ('05) |
y4 |
y8 |
| 1.
What do you think Matt should do to get some data or information to
go with his letter? |
|
|
| Data
on frequency of jelly beans in packets: |
|
| use
several packets of jelly beans to tally/graph proportion of black ones |
35
(35) |
| use
single packet of jelly beans to tally/graph proportion of black ones
|
24
(31) |
| Data
on proportion of people who particularly like black jelly beans: |
|
| presented
good ideas for a survey |
13
(10) |
| mentioned
issue without elaboration |
11
(10) |
| Show
student graph 1. |
|
 |
|
|
| This
graph shows the jelly beans in one packet. |
|
| 2.
Do you think that this would be enough information to convince the
makers that there should be more black jelly beans in each packet? |
|
| |
 no |
48
(54) |
| |
yes
|
48
(39) |
| 3.
Why do you think that? |
|
|
| Support
for “yes”: |
black
lowest on graph |
36
(32) |
| Support
for “no”: |
only
one fewer black than red or pink |
10
(9) |
| should
sample more than one packet to judge proportion of black |
27
(34) |
| graph
does not give information about people’s preference for different
colours |
7
(10) |
| Show
student graph 2. |
|
 |
|
|
| This
graph shows the jelly beans in ten packets. |
|
| 4.
Do you think that Matt should write to the jelly bean makers? |
no
|
71
(68) |
| |
yes
|
24
(23) |
| 5.
Why do you say that? |
|
|
| Support
for “no”: |
black
is not lowest on graph |
61
(59) |
| Support
for “yes”: |
black
is not high/highest on graph |
7
(4) |
| lots
of people have black as their favourite |
2
(2) |
|
Total
score: |
6–7
|
|
15
(10) |
4–5
|
28
(34) |
2–3
|
37
(43) |
| 0–1
|
20
(13) |
