Tim Sears teaches a combined first/second-grade class in Anchorage, Kentucky. His class has been studying animal habitats. Students are now applying probability and sampling techniques to study the habitat of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. In groups, students draw colored cubes out of a paper bag to simulate the woodpecker's habitat. The colors represent elements that would either benefit or harm a woodpecker, such as trees, insects, space, logging, and development. Without knowing what the colors represent, each group takes a cube from the bag, records its color, returns the cube to the bag, and repeats the process until it has recorded 10 draws. Groups of students discuss their samples, learn what each color represents, and continue with their simulation.

Please watch the video excerpt at left (duration 7:34) of Mr. Sears's classroom. As you watch the video, focus on the types of representation used throughout the lesson.

  Think about this classroom