Help the climber ascend the mountain by clicking on the color you think the spinner will land on. Race against classmates and see who gets there first. Teachers trust Toy Theater to provide safe & effective educational games for elementary school classrooms. Free to play, priceless for learning.
Probability Race to the Top
Data Management and Probability
One through Six
Students will actively explore probability and be able to describe the probability of an event occurring.
Computers or tablets for each child directed to http://toytheater.com/climber/.
Tell students that you are going to play a game about probability. On your cue they should all start to play. Tell them to stop as soon as the first person wins. Repeat this again without discussing it first.
Ask the students if anyone changed their strategies from the first game to the second. Ask them to explain what they did, starting with the students who did not win.
Explain that even though the spins are random, on average the green is going to win more times than the other others because it takes up a larger proportion of the circle. However, sometimes the spinner will still land on blue or yellow.
Split the class into three groups and assign each group to always click one of blue, yellow, or green. Have the students play the game again but this time only clicking on the color they were assigned. Tell them to raise their hand when they win, and let the game keep going until all the students have completed the game (or until you get tired of waiting for the yellows!)
Enrichment: Ask students to determine the fractions that each color represents. Discuss fractions as a means of predicting probabilities.