NKCTM

Mathematics on the Mind

Vol. 1  No. 2

The Spring conference of the Northern Kentucky Council of Teachers of Mathematics will meet on Wednesday, March 22nd, at Notre Dame Academy in Park Hills right off the Park Hills Exit of I-71 at 1601 Dixie Highway. The theme of the meeting is Probability. Kristin Holt from Dixie Heights High School will do the middle school/high school session and Peggy Cunningham from OVEC will present at the elementary level. The sessions last from 4:00 - 6:00 pm and refreshments will be available throughout this time.

Probability in Real Life

Teachers will have students pose questions based on information they can gather by investigating the contents of a bag of Skittles. The questions will be answered by collecting data from a bag of Skittles, circle graphs will be made and interpreted using the Skittles and the graphing calculator, and connections will be made to probability.

Secondary Session

Teachers will be exploring three different real world applications for probability using the five-step Monte Carlo method. The three different scenarios include population, pop-quiz scores and cereal box prizes.

Unable to Attend the March 22nd Meeting ? - If you are unable to attend the March 22nd meeting but are still interested in receiving correspondence, you can become a member for $4.00. Just fill out the membership form at the end of the newsletter and make a check out to Northern Kentucky Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

By using Line Design drawings you can create some interesting art - and some awesome mathematics. First Mark off equal units on the sides of a square. Then connect two points that are equal distance from two vertices as shown.

Find the geometric probability of shooting a dart in the interior and not in the triangle you just created. Next add another triangle as shown in the illustration. What is the probability of shooting a dart into the interior region? How many lines must be draw before the probability of shooting a dart in the interior is less than .5? .25? Are there any patterns that you observe? Try a new spiral design by inscribing triangles within triangles or pentagons within pentagons. Redo the problem and find out when the odds of hitting in the outer region to the inner region is closest to 1:2, 2:3, or 3:5. (Illustrations were scanned from Glencoe, Macmillan/McGraw Hill, Advanced Mathematical Concepts, Enrichment Masters)

Here is a probability activity you may want to adapt to your classroom: "Race to a Quarter" at http://explorer.scrtec.org/explorer/explorer-db/html/820890010-81ED7D4C.html

Here is some detail from the web site:

Description: "The object of this game is to provide practice in trading coins.  Pennies are placed on a circle gameboard. After spinning the spinner the student takes the identified pennies and places them on the graph provided under the penny column. Play continues by trading up, or moving the pennies into the nickel column and then dime column until the combination totals up to a quarter. The game may also be played as a "race to fifty cents", "race to one dollar", or to any combinations students require assistance in trading.  A simple graphic instruction for constructing the gameboard is included. For detailed instructions on making a spinner see the file entitled "How To Make a Spinner"

78th Annual NCTM Conference - Chicago, IL - April 13-15, 2000