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1.2

Activity

Standards Alignment

Building On

Addressing

Building Toward

Instructional Routines

MLR8: Discussion Supports

Materials

To Gather

Paper bags Snap cubes

Activity Narrative

Following the concept developed in the Warm-up, students will continue to use the idea that outcomes from previous experiments can help inform the likelihood of an outcome when the experiment is repeated. In this activity, students play a game while collecting data. Bags of colored blocks are set up with different probabilities to win, and students use random chance to collect points when the color of the block they choose matches the color written on the bag. In the discussion, students use the data they have collected during three rounds of the game to make a decision about which bag might be most likely to produce a winning block. As an opening activity, this is meant to motivate students into thinking about the likelihood of events. As such, it is not important to resolve the questions in the discussion into perfect agreement.

Launch

Arrange students in groups of 4. Explain or demonstrate to students how to play the game:

There will be 3 rounds of the game. Each group will get a different bag of blocks for each round.
Groups are not allowed to look into the bag or take more than one block out of the bag at a time.
During a round, each person in the group gets 4 turns to take a block out of the bag.
If the block matches the color that is written on the outside of the bag, the person scores 1 point. When the block is any other color, they do not earn any points.
After drawing a block, the person puts it back in the bag, shakes the bag to mix up the blocks, and passes the bag to the next person before taking another turn.
At the end of a round, everyone in the group should record everyone's points from that round and wait for a new bag of blocks with a different color.
A person wins by scoring the most points.

Distribute bags of blocks. Each group gets one of these bags:

A bag labeled “Green” that contains 9 green blocks and 3 of another color.
A bag labeled “Blue” that contains 8 blue blocks and 8 of another color.
A bag labeled “Red” that contains 4 red blocks and 10 of another color.

Representation: Access for Perception. Read directions aloud. Students who both listen to and read the information will benefit from extra processing time.
Supports accessibility for: Language, Attention

Activity

None

Your teacher will give your group a bag of colored blocks.

Follow these instructions to play one round of the game:
1. Write the color written on the bag in the first column of the table.
2. Without looking in the bag, one person takes out one of the blocks and shows it to the group.
3. If the block is the same color as the bag label, they earn 1 point.
4. The person puts the block back into the bag, shakes the bag to mix up the blocks, and passes the bag to the next person in the group.
5. Repeat these steps until everyone in the group has had 4 turns for the round.

At the end of the round, record each person's score in the table.

	color on bag	person 1's score	person 2's score	person 3's score	person 4's score
round 1
round 2
round 3

After each person in the group has had 4 chances to choose a block, pause so your teacher can give you a new bag of blocks for the next round.
Repeat the previous steps to play rounds 2 and 3 of the game.

Activity Synthesis

Tell students that there is a bonus, fourth round. In this round, a block that matches the color on the bag is worth 25 points. Each person will only have one chance to draw a bonus block. In this round, each group will get to choose which bag they would like to draw from. At least 3 people in the group must agree on the bag they will use.

Give students 5 minutes of small-group discussion to agree on which bag the group will use. Tell students that after the bonus round they will be asked to explain their reasoning for choosing the bag. It is fine for more than one group to select the same color bag. Identify groups that use the results from the previous rounds to determine which bag will be more likely to draw a winning block.

Allow each group to use the bag they have selected to play the bonus round and total their points.

After all students have played the bonus round, select groups to share their reasoning for choosing which bag to use. Select previously identified students to share their reasoning as well.

Ask students, “Is one bag more likely to give you a winning cube than the others? Explain your reasoning.”

Open one of each color bag to reveal the contents. Ask students, “Based on what you see now, does this change your answer? Explain your reasoning.”

The green bag should provide the best chance to win points, but it is not essential for the class to come to this understanding at this point.

MLR8 Discussion Supports. Display sentence frames to support whole-class discussion: “I agree because . . . .” or “I disagree because . . . .”
Advances: Speaking, Conversing