Building Arguments with Probability and the Clips App

I don’t like projects for assessment. I do like in class projects for the purposes of fostering discussion and other forms of interactions. I decided to put together something fun to build time into the unit while students developed their skills in applying binomial probability. From student feedback, they actually said it was fun, so this wasn’t just hopeful thinking (this time). This also had the added value of giving students a change to work on Common Core mathematical practice standard 3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

I gave pairs of groups of students a statement. The center paragraph was the same for both – a statement about probabilities. The paragraphs preceding and following that were different – conflicting contexts for each statement. Here’s an example.

I ended up writing four sets of situations to make sure that each class had at least two groups working on the same probability statement, but different arguments.

I asked students to do calculations and write a 100 word abstract stating their argument. After learning that the Clips app, recently released by Apple, made for a really easy way for students creatively describe and document their thinking, I also asked students to create a two minute video documenting the situation and their argument. You can see a selection of the video results below.

Students were really challenged to search for the calculations and results that supported their arguments. Some reported that they felt dishonest doing so.

You can check out all four sets of scenarios and the rubric I used here. The students said that working in teams and working through this task was enjoyable and actually reinforced their understanding of how to use binomial probability. As with a previous unit, this project was graded for completion, not for a grade, a fact I stated up front. So far, the students haven’t actually said this was a problem for them, and the quality of what they produced didn’t seem to suffer much.