Teaching Probability (FutureLearn)

Teaching Probability (FutureLearn)

Learn how to create effective lessons on probability to help equip 11 - 16 year olds with skills for life. Probability is a vital part of the maths curriculum for 11 - 16 year olds worldwide - a good foundational knowledge of probability can be useful throughout life, helping students make informed decisions big and small. Despite this, probability is often poorly understood. On this course you will work to change that, learning how to create and deliver more effective lessons on probability by using practical and frequency-based approaches.

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Taking a realistic, instead of abstract algebraic, approach this course will equip you with skills and ideas to take back to your classroom.

What topics will you cover?

  • Consideration of probability from everyday experience, and a review of how it is currently taught
  • Theoretical and experimental approaches, extending to consideration of frequencies
  • Conditional probability and data modelling
  • Representation of data, including frequency trees and Venn diagrams
  • Set theory
  • Independent and mutually exclusive events

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...

  • Evaluate the current teaching of probability in schools.
  • Apply frequency-based experimental and simulation approaches to tackling problems in probability.
  • Model conditional probability scenarios, including topical real-world situations, using experiments and simulations.
  • Compare theoretical and experimental approaches, focusing on the gap between ‘real-world’ and abstract treatments of probability.
  • Reflect on the potential of frequency-based approaches to make the teaching of probability more meaningful, and to effectively tackle challenging exam-style questions.
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