As hosts of a call-in math show, Maria Lopez and her parrot field calls from kids and adults who have math dilemmas. An unfair carnival game and quiz show about the odds of getting heads or tails when flipping a coin illustrate basic concepts of probability. In a series of classroom activities, your students explore ways to make the games fair and use probability calculations to determine which option is most fair. In activities your students compare various kinds of graphs and consider what kinds of graphs best communicate different types of data.
Students take their own polls and consider the impacts of a sample size and bias.
Avoid faulty analysis by knowing how a survey group relates to the larger population. Your students will practice converting percentages to circle graphs and drawing conclusions from statistics. Analyze carefully to see what statistics really mean. They can be misleading. Activities include interpreting and extending data on human growth, and charting and graphing sports records.