A Breakdown of Mathematics For Elementary School Teachers : Probability: A Breakdown of Mathematics for Elementary School Teachers

Probability

This first post is all about probability. This skill took me a while to grasp and I will do my best to explain the process. I think the best approach for starting out a new area or chapter in math is to introduce a manipulative. In an example problem a baggie of rainbow goldfish are distributed to the students. They are told to count how many crackers they have all together, then to count out the green ones. The green ones are considered the "sick" group in this experiment. The other colors are "healthy fish". The student is then asked to write how many sick fish there are over the number of total fish there are. This gives you a fraction of how many sick fish there are out of the total.

The same can be done with the healthy. Now the next step is to see what the application looks like when given more information. Further in the problem it states that the park ranger estimates there are a total of 300 fish in the pond. It is up to us to find the total number of healthy and sick now compared to this ratio. So first you would multiply your ratio so the denominator is 300 or slightly more if necessary with the "sick" ratio of fish. Next is to do the same with the "healthy" ones. (Hint: The two ratios should add up to equal one.)