This unit will be taught over 5 lessons in 50 minute periods to a year 7

class at Padua Catholic College. There will be 25 students in this class. For
the purpose of this assignment I taught another teachers mathematics
class. Due to the timing of this assignment, this group will be re-learning
the topic likely and unlikely outcomes as they completed their chance
units in week 6 of term 1. As a result of this, I expected students to have a
firm knowledge and understanding prior to teaching my unit.
Justification for choice of topic:
Ive decided to choose likely and unlikely outcomes as the topic of this
unit as I believe this topic is highly relevant to everyday life. A topic such
as Probability can be made into a highly engaging, activity rich unit as
these events are around us in our everyday life, by making Mathematics
more relatable to students it will hopefully increase their understanding of
the unit. I wanted to create a unit that was driven by real life situations to
facilitate learning through engaging activities, according to Batanero,
Godino & Roa, (2004) this is possible by students learning through
multiple forms such as game based activities, creativity and experiential
learning, stimulations and projects. These multiple forms have formed the
teaching and learning of this topic in this unit and will assist in influencing
the students to learning independently and self-directed, which is,
according to Beetham & Sharpe (2013) how 21st century learners learn best. It is
important a topic like this is taught by providing students with real world
experiences as mentioned above. Students form an understanding of
probability theory through hands on, engaging activities which according
to Taylor (2011) is essential to understanding politics, weather reports,
genetics and sports outside of the mathematics classroom.
Teaching this topic improves students mathemactical literacy, necessary
for coping with a changing society. A mathematically literate person can
estimate, predict and interpret data, solve day to day problems, reason in
numerical situations and communicate using mathematics language. The
skills learnt in this topic such as problem solving, the processing of
information, and communication are becoming routine job requirements,
this increasing importance of mathemactical literacy is necessary for
adults at work and in daily life (Ojose, 2011). I believe the Australian
Curriculum supports the importance of how mathematics plays a role in
the real world by setting realistic content requirements. This topic is also
essential as it works towards meeting the achievement standards by
following the Australian Curriculum requirements, see table below for
more information on how this unit correlates with the Australian
Curriculum.
.
(ACMSP167) Each lesson in the unit
encourages and provides
Construct sample spaces for single- opportunity for students to apply
step experiments with equally likely appropriate probability terminology
outcomes. such as:
probability
sample space
favourable outcome
trial
events
experiments
This unit provides students with
many opportunities to distinguish
between equally likely outcomes
and outcomes that are not equally
likely through experiments and
game based activities.

In lesson 3-4 (not including the pre

(ACMSP168)
and post-test) students are required
Assign probabilities to the outcomes to express probabilities as decimals,
of events and determine fractions and percentages after their
probabilities for events. experiments or activities. Students
demonstrate the skill of conversion
by completing the tables in these
lessons.

This piece of writing is directly taken from the ACARA website, the parts
of the year 7 Mathematics Achievement Standard to be met within this
unit are highlighted.

By the end of Year 7, students solve problems involving the comparison, addition and subtraction of integers.
They make the connections between whole numbers and index notation and the relationship between perfect
squares and square roots. They solve problems involving percentages and all four operations with fractions and
decimals. They compare the cost of items to make financial decisions. Students represent numbers using
variables. They connect the laws and properties for numbers to algebra. They interpret simple linear
representations and model authentic information. Students describe different views of three-dimensional
objects. They represent transformations in the Cartesian plane. They solve simple numerical problems involving
angles formed by a transversal crossing two lines. Students identify issues involving the collection of
continuous data. They describe the relationship between the median and mean in data displays.

Students use fractions, decimals and percentages, and their equivalences. They express one quantity as a
fraction or percentage of another. Students solve simple linear equations and evaluate algebraic expressions
after numerical substitution. They assign ordered pairs to given points on the Cartesian plane. Students use
formulas for the area and perimeter of rectangles and calculate volumes of rectangular prisms.
Students classify triangles and quadrilaterals. They name the types of angles formed by a transversal crossing
parallel line. Students determine the sample space for simple experiments with equally likely outcomes and
assign probabilities to those outcomes. They calculate mean, mode, median and range for data sets.
They construct stem-and-leaf plots and dot-plots.

ACARA, (2017).

In order for students to achieve curriculum standards within this unit,

lessons are designed from students learning lower-order skills (requiring
less cognitive process) to higher-order skills (greater degree of cognitive
processing). This design is influenced by the revised version of Blooms
Taxonomy of higher order thinking, proven effective by teachers when
implementing the sub-categories into their teaching: remember,
understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create (Adam, 2015). How these
stages are evident in the unit is outlined in the table below:

Remember First lesson: Students revisit previously learnt knowledge

through a short discussion after the pre-test, focussing
on the key questions:
-What do we know about the sub strand chance?
-Do we understand the terminology and language to
predict outcomes?
-Do we know what skills are used to predict and
evaluate outcomes of events?
-where do we predict outcomes in everyday life?

Students are recognising their pre-existing knowledge

and recalling information to answer these key questions.

Lesson 2:
Students were involved in three experimental learning
activities in a game based setting. Within each activity
students discussed in their groups the following
questions:
-In your group, discuss how you decide to choose
outcomes.
-List some of the strategies.
-Justify why you use these strategies (DO NOT USE "If I
feel lucky)
-What is the sample space?

Such questions according to Forehand (2010) is getting

students to recall or bring to mind appropriate
information, helping students define, describe, identify,
 label, name and match.
Understand Lesson 2:
Students are gathering information from each activity
and discussing their results in their groups and as a class
with the time remaining in the lesson. In this lesson
students are interpreting their information, summarising
their discussion points within their groups to explain how
they:
-predict outcomes
-compare results
-explain strategies
Apply Lesson 3:
Students used learned material from the previous two
lessons and implement it in a new situation through the
process of applying methods, rules and concepts.

This cognitive learning stage is evident in this lesson by

creating activities where students have to:
-demonstrate
-produce
-predict
-discover
-show
-solve
Analyse Lesson 4:
This lesson students had to design their own prediction
task involving students to break down the task into
components. First by creating a task that is differentiated
from the ones we have down in class. Then students had
to identify the sample space and likeness of outcomes for
their task, outline the characteristics of their chosen task
and record results.
This cognitive learning stage is evident by students
breaking down a task into parts where the relationship
between parts can be analysed to recognise
organisational principles (Forehand, 2010).
Evaluation Lesson 4:
 This lesson gave students the opportunity to decide what
experiment they would like to perform. This task involved
students predicting the outcomes of their experiment,
critique the outcomes and justify their solutions.

Create Lesson 4:
As students design this task, they are able to generate
new ideas and create an experiment that demonstrates
their competency with the knowledge and skills learnt
within this unit.

Lesson 5:
As the highest cognitive hierarchy, students should have
the ability to put all their concepts, knowledge and skills
to together from the other sub-categories to complete a
post test. The test requires students to compare
outcomes, justify solutions, interpret results and apply
the appropriate mathematical terms in their responses.

This unit design reflects upon the needs of 21st century learners while addressing the
foundation-year 10 mathematics aim from the Australian curriculum to develop students
understanding of probability and the ability to solve problems. This unit gives students the
opportunity to improve these skills and develop the following competencies needed for the
21st century: collaboration, digital literacy, critical thinking and problem solving (Trilling and
Fadel, 2009). The lessons within this unit promote students to take responsibility of their
learning, engage in hands on activities, form probability concepts, and apply knowledge to
pose and solve real world problems. How this unit prepares students for the 21st century is
by facilitating and guiding students learning rather than the presenter of information,
fostering collaboration opportunities with other students and encouraging creativity
(Ondrashek, 2017).