“Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching” VOLUME 2 - AMESA

TEACHING PROBABILITY THROUGH PLAYMAKOPO K MKWAZAMOKUHLE SECONDARYSenior Phase, FET Maths and FET Maths LiteracyIntroduction:LO5 AS 6 in the GET curriculum states: Considers situations with equally probableoutcomes and determines probabilities for compound events using two-way tablesand tree diagramsAS 10.4.2 in the FET curriculum states: Solves probability problems correctlyidentifying the sample space of a random experiment.AS 12.4.5 in the Maths Literacy curriculum states: Critically engage with the use ofprobability values in making predications in the context of games and real-lifesituations.I use this activity to get learners to understand how to find the sample space of astatistical experiment and then go onto finding probabilities of certain activities.Some Basics:A statistics experiment generally has more than one possible outcome. For example,if a die is thrown once, the possible outcomes of the trial are any of the scores 1, 2, 3,4, 5 or 6 and the full set is referred to as the sample space of the experiment ofthrowing a die.We may find the probability of any collection of possible outcomes (also referred toas an event) by using the classical definition of probability:• The probability of P of an event E is a measure of how likely the outcome of thatevent is, and is calculated as:n(E)P(E) = ,n(s)where n(E) = number of possible outcomes in event E.and n(S) = number of possible outcomes in the sample space S.n(E)• P(E) = 0 if it is impossible for event E to occur, because n(E) in is equal ton(s)zero if event E contains none of the possible outcomes in the sample space S.31