Probability and Graphing

Materials - 10-20 unifix cubes in 3 colors per group
paper bag
sheet for tally marks and to make prediction

Procedure:
Prior to activity fill bags for each group with set of unifix cubes use only 3 colors per bag


Place students in pairs or small groups
Have them empty the contents on the table to view the amount of each color of cubes.
Write the color names on a sheet of paper.
Students must predict which color they think will pull out most often when the randomly select a cube. Write the prediction on a sheet of paper.
Place cubes back in bag.
Have students take turns sticking their hand in the bag and selecting a cube(without looking). As they pull a cube from the bag, write down a tally mark for that cube and place the cube back in the bag. Repeat 20 times.
At the end, have students compare the actual results with their prediction.

Next, have students enter their data into a spreadsheet application.
The spreadsheet should look like this:
Column A Column B
color number
red 4
blue 7
green 1


Have the students graph their data. Most spreadsheet programs will allow you to change the color of the bars, lines, etc. Have the students change the color of the bars on their chart to reflect the colors they had in their bag.

Happy Computing!

Using Excel for Coordinate Grid mapping

Excel makes a great tool to help extend the old color the square coordinate grid worksheets we give the kids.
The activity I'm including has the students creating a smiley face by using the fill tool in Excel. The activity works even better if you shrink the width of the cell in columns A-Z so that the boxes look like squares. If you don't, your smiley face will be extra wide, but it will still work.

Coordinate Grid Mapping Activity
1. Type your name in cell (A, 1)


2.Use the fill tool on the bottom toolbar to color the following cells yellow. ** ( If you do not see the fill tool or the bottom toolbar click on View - Toolbars- Check Drawing and the tool bar will appear at the bottom. )
3. To change the fill color to yellow.
4. Click on the down arrow to the right of the fill tool and select more colors.
5. Click on yellow.

(A,6) (A,7) (A,8) (A,9) (A,10) (A,11) (A,12) (A, 13) (A,14) (A,15)

(A,16) (A,17) (B,4) (B,5) (B,17) (B,18) (C,2) (C,3) (C,18) (C,19)

(D,1) (D,2) (D,19) (D,20) (E,1) (E,2) (E,19) (E,20) (F,2) (F,3)

(F,18) (F,19) (G,4) (G,5) (G,17) (G,18) (H,6) (H,7) (H,8) (H,9)

(H,10) (H,11) (H,12) (H,13) (H,14) (H,15) (H,16) (H,17)


1. Use the fill tool on the bottom toolbar to color the following cells black.
2. To change the fill color to black.
3. Click on the down arrow to the right of the fill tool and select more colors.
4. Click on black.
(C,7) (C,8) (C,13) (D,14) (E, 14) (F,7) (F,8) (F,13)

Have fun with this activity!


Happy Computing!