REFERENCES

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES
TWISTER
This
activity allows for movement
PROBABILITY

from students through engaging in

a game of Twister. The purpose is
to grasp the understanding of
chance and probability
(theoretical and hypothetical) and
then further develop data
collection and interpretation skills.

M&M GRAPHING
Activity
is aimed at levels 3&4 ,
ACTIVITIY

with students given a handful of

M&M and simply asked to estimate
and graph the colours of the M&Ms
in any way that the feel best, then
sharing with the class. Allowing
students to start developing their
understanding of selecting and
interpreting data relating to
curriculum points
(VCMSP149),
(VCMSP149),
(VCMSP179),
(VCMSP180).

Dweck, C. (2000). Self- theories: Their role in

motivation, personality, and development.
Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press
Flores, A. (2014). Who's in the
Lead?. Mathematics Teacher, 108(1), 18-22.
Johnston-Wilder, S., & Lee, C. (2010).
Mathematical Resilience. Mathematics
Teaching, (218), 38-41.
O'Connell, A. (1999). Understanding the
Nature of Errors in Probability ProblemSolving. Educational Research And
Evaluation, 5(1), 1-21.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/edre.5.1.1.3887
Reys R., Lindquist M., Lambdin D., Smith N.,
Rogers A., Falle J., Frid S., & Bennett S.
(2012). Helping Children Learning
Mathematics (1st Australian ed.). Milton,
Queensland: John Wiley & Sons.
School At Oz,. (2016). Bar Chart. Retrieved
from
http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homew
ork-andtudy/mathematics/mathematicstips/helping-your-child-with-graphs-andtables
Whizz,. (2016). Twister Board. Retrieved from:
http://www.whizz.com/2013/07/10/mathstwister-game/

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STATISTICS
AND
PROBABILITY
Matt Berry, Cassandra Hill,
Rocci Thomas and Meagan
Gibbs

ARTICLE SUPPORT
According to Lee and JohnstonWilder (2010), students who
are mathematically resilient
understand that when they are
learning a new topic it will be
hard at first but will develop
strategies to overcome these
challenges. This supports the
notion of Carol Dwecks positive
Mind Sets (2000), in that she
believes that students who have
the belief that theyre able to do
it rather than having a cant do
it attitude tend to do better.
These activities we have chosen
have been selected to enhance a
students personal strategies to
deal with mathematical
challenges, in a fun and
engaging manner.

MISCONCEPTIONS
Most common misconceptions
Number Bias: Students can develop bias
towards curtain numbers believing that it can
be harder to though a tails on a coin than heads,
despite the fact that the chance is the same.
(Reys et al., 2012)
Personal Preferences: Often students will
make predictions based on what their
preferences is, thus they will pick pink to be the
classes favourite colour just because theirs is.
(Reys et al., 2012)
Unsurprised: Many students will not be
surprised by extremely unlikely events
occurring such as a horse that was predicated to
finish in last place winning the Melbourne Cup.
This tends to be because they have the
misconception that all outcomes have the same
probability. (Reys et al., 2012)

Ways to over-come
misconceptions
Misconceptions are often the production of
both teachers and students being
uninformed about what may be realistic or
reasonable. As teachers a simple way of
battling these misconceptions is to cover the
basics.

By helping understands the very basics
about statistics and probability, including
how chance and odds are not an absolute
certainty in results, it goes a long way to
avoiding misconceptions.