To begin the probability unit, the grade 5’s engaged in a fun experiment with Skittles! Each student was given 30 skittles in a bag.
Before beginning the experiment the students had to count how many of each coloured skittle they had and record it on their worksheet.
Then, students predicted what the probability would be of pulling each colour (red, orange, yellow, green or purple). They did this by taking the number of skittles and dividing it by the total number of skittles to calculate the probability.
Next, they predicted how many times they would pull each colour if they were to conduct this experiment 15 times.
After making their predictions, students conducted an experiment to determine how accurate their predictions were. They conducted the experiment by pulling 15 skittles out of the bag and tallying on their worksheet which colour was picked. Students had to total their tally marks and write the probability of each colour that was pulled as a fraction.
While reflecting on the experiment the grade 5’s had to answer this question:How close was your prediction and what did you learn from this activity? For most students, they mentioned that their experimental probability was different from their prediction. They learned that their predictions might not always align with what the outcome of the experiment will be.
The grade 5’s got to enjoy eating the skittles after conducting this experiment!
