Programming And Probability: A Practical Application of Principles and Standards for School Mathematics

摘要

This article describes ideas for teaching students critical concepts in probability through novel approaches available with today's technology. These teaching ideas include student work in programming that makes use of the newest features of calculators, including the graphing capabilities. These features offer students valuable experiences in visualizing the basic concepts of probability. The calculator programs introduced are easy to understand by the beginning programmer and are instructional in showing students the potential value of learning how to program. The activities are at a level appropriate for high school students and in certain cases, for undergraduate students taking introductory courses. Students will find the programs easy to reproduce and change, making them very useful for exploring basic probability ideas and for exploring other mathematical relationships. Experience gained by students doing these activities can provide them a solid foundation for higher-level programming in personal computer and mainframe environments. Ideas for encouraging student conjectures and explorations are also shared.