Collecting Pens

Author

Texas Instruments

Alignment

Standards Alignment

Textbook Alignment

Subject Area

Math: Statistics: Probability and Random Variables

Level

6-8

Activity Time

100 Minutes

TI Calculator

TI-83 Plus Family

TI-84 series

TI-83 Plus Family

Other Materials

This is Activity 7 from the EXPLORATIONS Book:
Graphing Calculator Activities for Enriching Middle School Mathematics

Resource Types

Lessons

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Collecting Pens

Activity Overview

Students explore simulation strategies to solve real world problems involving probability and randomness. They use the Monte Carlo procedure to simulate the collecting of six different colored felt-tipped markers from boxes of Kellogg's cereals. They examine and analyze summary statistics and statistical plots of the data.

Before the Activity

See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity

Print pages 61 - 76 from the attached PDF file for your class

During the Activity

Distribute the pages to the class.

Follow the Activity procedures:

Assign a number from 1 to 6 for each color

Use the calculator to generate random numbers between 1 and 6 (including 1 and 6)

Record the frequency of the numbers

When all six numbers have appeared at least once, repeat the simulation for two more trials

Enter the data as lists and create a frequency table

Examine the frequency table and record the minimum and maximum values, and the largest frequency

Set up the window and define the width of the interval

Graph a histogram

Create a box-and-whisker plot

Analyze the distribution of the data

Determine the number of boxes a customer has to buy in order to collect all six pen colors

After the Activity

Students complete the data sheet and answer questions.

Review student results:

As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging

Re-teach concepts as necessary

Download Files

Download All Files (ZIP)

Before the Activity Files

Teacher Notes PDF

Author

Texas Instruments

Alignment

Standards Alignment

Textbook Alignment

Subject Area

Math: Statistics: Probability and Random Variables

Level

6-8

Activity Time

100 Minutes

TI Calculator

TI-83 Plus Family

TI-84 series

TI-83 Plus Family

Other Materials

This is Activity 7 from the EXPLORATIONS Book:
Graphing Calculator Activities for Enriching Middle School Mathematics

Resource Types

Lessons

Report an Issue

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Collecting Pens

Collecting Pens

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