Teaching Methods

This lesson is based on Lawrence Lesser's article that describes the set-up of the spreadsheet simulation and Cindia Stewart's lesson that seeks to answer the Birthday Problem using three different methods. Probability topics include: Sample Size, Law of Large Numbers, Complementary Probabilities, Independence of Events

This activity discusses probability topics, such as: sample space, independent events, Law of Large Numbers, deviation percentage. A Excel program is required for this activity, which can be reached via the website.

This activity uses Microsoft Excel for a simulation of probability concepts. The Excel file and handouts are provided. Students will explore the concept of independent events, sample spaces, equally likely probabilities, and percentages within the context of this simulation.

The Decision Bonsai are a hybrid of concept maps and decision trees. They were originally developed to give introductory statistics students a map to inference procedures but have evolved to be used for other topics. The tree is 'grown' during the semester so that students build a picture of the relationships in their mind. Recent work is moving toward the development of more complete concept maps for introductory statistics, statistical quality methods and probability and stochastic processes courses. These Decision Bonsai would be then pointed to at appropriate points in the concept maps.