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The Missing Link

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Workshop Sessions

Sampling and Probability: Why This Topic Matters

Why Do We Have to Learn This Stuff, Anyway?

  • Teachers hear this kind of question every day. The Missing Link offers some practical advice to help teachers answer these questions.
  • First, each lesson itself draws on real-world applications, whether it's developing a pledge plan to raise money for charity (Patterns & Functions) or creating a geometry scavenger hunt (Polygons & Angles).
  • Second, we have assembled online resources, where math teachers and experts from across the country have contributed their own ideas about how to make math more relevant. (See Links & Resources)
  • Finally, each workshop features conversations with the Learner Teachers about a few practical ways that the math concepts being discussed in the program show up in daily life.

Some Everyday Ways to Use Sampling & Probability

  • Neilsen TV ratings — TV viewers
  • Public opinion polls and political forecasts — politicians
  • The census — anyone who depends on government money, much of which is allocated according to what the census tells us about who lives where
  • Market research — businesspeople deciding whether to sell a new product, TV producers deciding whether to program a new game show or sitcom
  • Figuring out the odds — anyone who gambles, whether it's playing blackjack in Las Vegas or buying a local lottery ticket
  • Figuring out the odds of choosing a red M&M — sweet-tooths

Share your own ideas about how to make this topic more relevant for students. Participate in Channel-Talk online.


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