Day -30: Don't Assume

Today I introduced a unit on probability by having students do experiments with spinners. As you can see, half of a circular spinner was labeled "1," and then the remaining half was divided into two equal sections, which we labeled "2" and "3." Students did experiments to see which number the spinner would land on most frequently.


You would think this would be so obvious that it would be no fun at all. But you are not 9 years old. They were so into this activity. A fair number of students were really surprised at how many more times their spinners landed on 1 than on the other numbers. And when some of them came up with the idea that the spinner landed on 1 more frequently because the area of the space labeled 1 was bigger, they were so excited! Seeing that not everyone's spinners landed on 1 most often was useful, too. We had talked about probability plenty of times before, but always abstractly. To really understand that the spinner landed on 1 most frequently not just because of luck but because of the design of the spinner is so important! It's a useful reminder for me that when kids actually investigate a problem for themselves, their understanding is so much deeper and long-lasting.

(Note: Only last year did I discover that spinning a paper clip around the point of a pencil works great for the spinning part of spinners. There are people like Marilyn Burns who try to convince you that you need to do much fancier things to have adequate spinners, but they're just wrong. Also, what would I do without cardstock for math manipulatives like these spinners. Why do schools not all have reams of cardstock? Construction paper is OK, but it's not the same.)

Later we made tissue paper flowers for Mother's Day (which is celebrated May 10 every year in Mexico and by lots of Latino families living in the U.S.). The only reason I had time for this little project is because our school was doing make-up standardized testing and I suddenly had an extra 45-minute block of time with my students that I don't normally have.



It's also important not to assume that students can envision how to draw half of a flower's petals on their folded pieces of tissue paper! You would not believe how hard this is for some of them. Next time, I need little stencils at each table, not just drawings on the board. Primary grade teachers, I really do have sympathy for you considering how much prep time this little activity took - and my students know how to use scissors!