The probability unit lesson plan includes references to the corresponding textbook or workbook pages on the topic. Teachers detail how planned worksheets and hands-on probability activities will achieve curriculum goals and objectives. The amount of time each planned educational activity and textbook lesson will take is estimated and included in the lesson plan as well.
Educational center activities and lessons are also included the teacher's lesson plans. Probability and predicting experiments are often enjoyable for students, but also reinforce academic goals. The students' predictions and observations during the activity can be written or graphed on a worksheet and reviewed for a written grade. Activities can be conducted on a full class basis or used as a small group center activity. Teachers and tutors can use interactive probability activities as a form of testing knowledge or as a remedial exercise for students struggling with predicting concepts.
Hand-held manipulatives such as dice, colored plastic cubes and coins are often used to demonstrate probability techniques. Note the objects planned for use with interactive activities in the lesson plans. Key vocabulary words relating to predicting outcomes can be used when students explain their predictions and results either verbally, in writing or on a graph. Common probability vocabulary words to incorporate in the learning unit lesson plan include equally likely, likelihood, probability, impossible, outcomes and certain. Students can also use number sentences to explain how many times a red cube or number 4 will appear during a predicting hands-on activity.
Varied strategies for teaching the different types of learners commonly present in a classroom should also be included in a weekly lesson plan. Meeting the needs of below average to advanced learners is an important part of planning how to reach topic objectives when starting a new textbook chapter. Visual learners may benefit from incorporating a number line into a probability lesson to make the connection between predicting outcomes and vocabulary words. Auditory learners and developmentally delayed students in the classroom may be able to better explain or understand the lesson orally as opposed to written communication. Kinesthetic learners may need to physically touch the hand-held items used in an activity to understand the lesson. Such students could benefit from actually dropping the objects into a jar or rolling the dice to make a connection between predicting and the end result.