Activity

Introductio
n to
probability,
chance and
statistics
for year 3's

Heads and
Tails

Dice

Spinners

Bag of
Objects

Activity Description
Teacher will put a display of data on the board.
Children are to discuss what the data interprets.
Teacher to assess and challenge any student
misconceptions. This is to assess where the students
are currently at. During this lesson, provide the
students with the opportunity to experiment with
chance using coins, dice and spinners.
Teacher to ask students the question "if you tossed
this coin 10 times, how many times do you think you
will get heads" and then follow up with "why".
Students then work in pairs tossing the coin 10
times each, recording their results using a tally
system. Partners then compare their data and make
a conclusion based on "the number of heads and
tails each person resulted in, and why". As an
extension, teachers can ask what the chance is that
students will get a heads.
Teacher to ask students to write down as many
possible combinations they can think of if 2 dice
were rolled. Students to roll 2 dice 20 times and list
their combinations. Students to record this on a
table as shown to the right. Teacher to ask the
question "how many times did you get the same
combination?". Teacher to ask students to call out
each of their combinations to write them on the
board until all possible (36 combinations are
recorded). Teacher to then ask the question "what is
the likelihood that you will get this combination
(4,2), based on the combinations written on the
board".
In pairs, students will have the following labelled
cards; unlikely, likely, even, impossible, certain.
Students to place these cards in the right order.
They are then asked to use the spinner (as detailed
in the box to the right) to answer the following
questions: what is the chance of getting an even
number, what is the chance of getting the number 5,
what is the chance of getting a number less than 10.
Students to combine their pairs to make small
groups and compare their results. They can discuss
if someone's results are different and formulate a
conclusion.
Teacher asks students to, in groups, collect 10
different things around the room and put them into a
box. Some items must be the same as others. Show
the students an example: 1 ruler, 3 lead pencils, 2
erasers, 4 coloured pencils. Students are then asked
to form 3 questions (each in pairs) to ask the other
pair in their group. In the above example, questions
might be; what is the likelihood of pulling out a ruler,
what is the likelihood of choosing a coloured pencil,

Diagram of Activity

Each square is coloured in

grey when it is resulted.
Then the 2nd time, it is
yellow, the 3rd time it is
blue. Give each time a
new colour if this
continues.

what is the likelihood of choosing a pencil. Students

to share their questions with the other pair. Students
to formulate a conclusion based on the following
question to all groups "what object are you most
likely to pull out, and why?".

Teachers to set the students up on a computer in

pairs. Students to play the scootle car racing spinner
game on the following website:
www.scootle.edu.au/ec/viewing/L2379/index.html
Spinners
(online
game)

Students to have the peed starting on normal in the

first activity, then progress it to fast in the second
activity. Students to follow the duration of the
exercise, and play it 2 times so that each pair has a
shot in each section of the game. Students to print
off their final sheet to present with a small group.