Activity Detail
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Will Girls and Boys Be Equal?
 


Activity Overview

Students explore concepts in probability and statistics. In this activity, they model a situation to find experimental probability and construct a box-and-whisker plot. They compare the experimental and theoretical probabilities for the situation.

Before the Activity

  • See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
  • Print pages 117 - 122 from the attached PDF file for your class

    		•

    		During the Activity

    		Distribute the pages to the class.

    Follow the activity procedures:
  • Estimate the probability of exactly 25 out of 50 babies being girls
  • Use the RANDI function on the calculator to generate 1's and 2's randomly to represent girls and boys, and record the number of times the calculator "threw up" a girl in fifty trials
  • Find the experimental probability of exactly 25 out of 50 babies being girls
  • Use Pascal's triangle to determine the theoretical probability for exactly 25 boys and 25 girls
  • Construct a box-and-whisker plot for the data
  • Mark the minimum value, the first quartile, the median, the third quartile, and the maximum value on the plot

    		After the Activity

    		Students complete the Student Activity pages.

  • Review student results
  • As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
  • Re-teach concepts as necessary

    		Other Downloads




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    Subject Area:
    Math : PreAlgebra : Probability, Statistics and Data Analysis
    Math : Middle Grades Math : Probability, Statistics and Data Analysis

    Author:
    Texas Instruments

    Level:
    5-8

    Activity Time:
    60 Minutes

    Device:
    TI-30X IIB, TI-30X IIS, TI-34 II Explorer Plus™

    Apps:
     

    Software:
     

    Accessories:
     

    Other:
    This is Activity 12 from the EXPLORATIONS Book:
    Math Investigations with the TI-30X IIS and TI-34 II: Activities for the Middle Grades

    You will need the following materials for this activity:

  • Rulers


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