Critical Reflection

The below table critically reflects each lessons theoretical and practical
relevance to students

Lesson 1 Theoretical relevance to students

and 5 The pre-test identifies students pre-existing knowledge on the
(pre-post- topic before teaching this unit. Students results helps answer the
following questions:
test) What do they know about the sub strand chance?
Do they understand the terminology and language to predict outcomes?
Do they know what skills are used to predict and evaluate outcomes of
events?

The pre-test results showed:

7 students received less than 40% on their test
9 students received between 41% and 69% on their test
9 students received 70% or above
From these results provides an indication of where students
strengths and weakness lie when answering the above questions.
Students results also became the deciding factor for placing
students into ability groups (group 1, group 2 and group 3). Where
majority of students performed poorly were in questions 17, 19,
20. This may be due to one of the questions not having an image
to relate to as it was structured as a sentence or the multiple
choice answers confused students. The results also showed
students performed poorly when converting probabilities into
fractionals, decimals and percentages. This information helps
address how much depth of information I need to cover in lesson
2, 3 and 4.

The post-test identifies whether students are able to apply the

knowledge learnt over the course and improve their overall mark
compared to their pre-test score:
The post-test results showed:
2 students received less than 60% on their test
8 students received between 61% and 79% on their test
15 students received 90% or above
These results display students have improved academically over
the course of this unit. This proves the theory and delivery of
lesson content is relevant to students.

Practical relevance to students

By completing the pre-test, helps me identify what sections of the
 test were performed well or needs work. It is important to look at
how some questions on the test differentiate in structure and
analyse whether this is another reason for students performing
poorly beyond students lacking knowledge and skills. For
example, the pre-test results showed most students performed
well when a diagram or image was presented next to the
question. This may help students to visualise the object of a dice
or coin when determining outcomes. This tells me students may
learn best visually seeing the object and in future classes
incorporate more hands on activities. Another example I found
influential on students answers, were the poorly answered
questions when written in a sentence form. This suggests that
more worded questions should be incorporated, and allow
opportunities in class to practice dissecting what the question is
asking.
Theoretical & practical relevance to ACARA curriculum
I believe by incorporating a pre-test and post-test gives the
teacher feedback on their teaching strategies as well as students
progress within the unit to help identify whether students have
achieved the Australian Curriculum achievement standards. Both
tests also help identify students weakness and strengths enabling
the teacher to adapt lessons to make sure students are achieving
the learning outcomes of this unit. The post-test also shows gaps
in their understanding and allows students to correct these
misconceptions independently.

Lesson 2 Theoretical relevance to students

I believe the learning intention distinguishing between likely and
unlikely outcomes and application of probability terminology for
this lesson was achieved in the type of assessment. The
assessment for this lesson involved students actively participating
in discussions and responding to the following questions:
1. In your group, discuss how you decide to choose your outcome?
2. List some of the strategies.
3. Justify why you use these strategies (DO NOT USE "If I feel lucky I roll
again)
4. What is the sample space?

The assessment outlined students were able to apply effective

strategies when playing the three games to predict outcomes.
Some of the strategies included:
Choosing outcomes that havent occurred
Setting targets
taking inconsideration of opponents playing strategies
determining the probability of an outcome occurring

*Students were also able to identify the sample space for each of the three
activities

Practical relevance to students

 I found this lesson introduced the topic in a fun and interactive
way where students could connect their prior knowledge to game
based/hands on activities. Students recognised the objects (dice,
coins and spinners) used in the activities, which I believed created
an environment where students are familiar to the concept of
using an object to receive different outcomes. I believe the
practical activities used within this lesson were relevant to
meeting the learning needs of students by:
engaging with real life objects
promoting collaboration among students
creating questions that get students to think, analyse and
justify their choice of strategies to predict outcomes.
Gives students a step by step process to think critically

Theoretical & practical relevance to ACARA curriculum

I believe this lesson was able to teach students the skills to
distinguish between likely and unlikely outcomes by using game
based experiments with familiar objects. They experience easy
probability (objects that have an equal chance of 2-6 outcomes) in
three different situations, while discussing in their groups how to
determine sample space and what is the sample space of each
object in the activity. The strategies students developed to predict
outcomes not only reflected upon Australian Curriculum
requirements, but also giving students the skills to apply their
understanding to more complex situations in the real world.

From observing this class, students demonstrated enjoyment

learning this theory by :
by asking relevant questions or follow up questions
asking for more time to perform the activities and gain more data for
their questions
staying focused on the task with very little distraction
showing competitiveness when participating in the activities
showing initiative (leadership roles, equipment assemble and starting
tasks)

These examples show me as a teacher that students were

engaged within the activities and discussions. Their assessments
also reflected this by demonstrating correct solutions and valid
responses within discussions.

Lesson 3 Theoretical relevance to students

I believe the learning intention analysing possible outcomes and
converting results into different expressions (fractionals, decimals
and percentages) expands on students knowledge learnt in
activity 2 from the previous lesson (spinner). The skills students
use to complete this task will apply to everyday situations, where
everyday outcomes will be evaluated and expressed as a
percentage, decimal or fraction. I believe the academic standard
of this lesson was achieved through the evaluation of students
assessments.
The assessment for this lesson involved students to perform a selected
task in pairs depending on their ability group (as determined by the pre-
test).

Students demonstrated within the assessment that they

could competently apply the skills used to convert
expressions and display results in a graph. I found breaking
up students into ability groups helped all students meet the
Australian curriculum standard:
Determine the sample space for simple experiments with equally likely outcomes
and assign probabilities to those outcomes
Express one quantity as a fraction or percentage of another.

Practical relevance to students

I believe this lesson and activity design involved a variation of
learning strategies appropriate for 21st century learners:
Incorporating teacher demonstrations
Collaborative working environment
Grouping of student abilities
ICT implementation
Student responsibility for their own learning
Problem solving

I believe the way the content is learnt by students in this lesson

helps students apply what they know to unfamiliar situations. For
example convert percentages, fractionals and decimals to
situations other than probability, such as determining the
percentage on an English test or scoring accuracy in a sporting
game. As the lessons promotes students to source their own
information and conduct their own experiment using the skills
taught in the previous lesson, this allows students put this
knowledge to other experiments they may come across in
everyday life.
Theoretical & practical relevance to ACARA curriculum
I believe this lesson enhanced students skills to determine
probabilities of likely and unlikely outcomes through experiments
including the use of ICT and collaboration of ideas between
partners, and provided students with the knowledge to express
probabilities as decimals, fractionals and percentages within their
ability groups. The Australian Curriculum requirements have
influenced the structure of this lesson and its learning intention
and the aim to achieve the Australian Curriculum achievement
standards. I believe students assessments reflect the
achievement standards through students ability to perform
experiments and analyse their results while demonstrating the
 following skills:
identifying sample space
convert fractions, decimals and percentages
Assign probabilities to the outcomes of events
determine probabilities for events

*I do believe if I hadnt given a brief introduction on how to

convert fractions into decimals or percentage into decimal
this may have altered the students ability to achieve the
Australian Curriculum standards. Although students were
given a link to a website to refer to for guidance, I found the
demonstration at the start of class very beneficial to
students in order to understand the processes of conversion.
I found students performed well in all parts of the activity,
besides the lower ability group when converting expressions.
However, I noticed working in partners gave students
competence to solve this section without the help from
myself.

Lesson 4 Theoretical relevance to students

The content covered in this lesson links closely with Australian
Curriculum requirements, therefore influencing the learning
intention to have students create a chance experiment of their
choice, concluding all the skills and knowledge learnt so far in this
unit to:
Predict and calculate the probability of outcomes.
Identify sample space
Convert fractions into decimals and percentages
Present outcomes in a table and graph
Analyse results and justify reasoning

This lesson is very important for me as the teacher to identify

whether students can apply their skills and knowledge to an
experiment they create. This lesson is very relevant to students
learning, it is a form of assessment guided by students creativity
and curiosity.
The assessment outlined students were able to apply effective
strategies when playing the three games to predict outcomes.
Some of the strategies included:
Choosing outcomes that havent occurred
Setting targets
taking inconsideration of opponents playing strategies
determining the probability of an outcome occurring

*Students were also able to identify the sample space for each of the three
activities
 Practical relevance to students
The chance project was a successful assessment piece for this
lesson because:
students were actively engaged in hands on experiments
(students were involving one another in the process to gain
results)
students were attempting new experiments and using
unfamiliar objects to determine outcomes
students were changing the classroom environment to
adapt to the experiments requirements (one student made
a slide out of poster paper and filing cabinets for a toy car
race)
students exercise books reflected correct solutions and
creativity
it meets the learning intention of the lesson
This lesson involved students completing a chance project that
supported creativity, different objects to measure the probability
and be as inventive as they want. I felt this lesson worked
extremely well, by having a project that lets students have
freedom and control over what they want to investigate.

Theoretical & practical relevance to ACARA curriculum

The content in the project and how the project is completed
supports the curriculum by:
students expanding their knowledge of expressing probabilities
as decimals, fractionals and percentages
students demonstrating their understanding of probability terminology
distinguishing between equally likely and not equally likely outcomes within
their experiment
The what, so what and what now?
The what: My initial thoughts leading into this unit were students thriving in the
tests and assessments as they have previously been taught this unit in term 1. I
felt that students would have little room to improve and students would find this
unit boring or too easy (especially the student with autism, as he is easily
distracted when not focussed or engaged). What I observed over this unit was
students actively engaging within the tasks, showing enjoyment and excelling in
the theory content. Evidence of these observations are found within the students
work samples, discussion points and post-test results.
So what:
The results in the post-test imply students improved their ability to apply the
skills and knowledge to a range of questions reflecting upon curriculum
standards. The assessments also reflected students competency to predict
outcomes, identify sample space, and convert probabilities into fractionals,
decimals and percentages within their responses. I believe teaching this unit in
game based situations that are hands on, incorporating ICT and having students
design their own project influenced these improvements. It made students take
responsibility of their learning and gave me the role of a facilitator of learning
rather than the presenter, whilst promoting the needs of 21sdt century learning.
What now:
What I would do differently in the future would be adapting future lessons depending on pre-test
results. For this unit I found that once I organised and planned this unit I didnt allow room for
movement, rather just accepted that the modifications I made prior to teaching this unit for students
who learn differently or have learning disabilities/difficulties would be successful. Next time I would
mark the pre-test, than plan the lessons thoroughly, still having an idea of what I want to teach but
create learning intentions specifically to address errors and misconceptions found in the pre-test.
I believe I could have taken the next step and introduced data displays (stem and leaf plots and tree
diagram) where students discussed the comparison between outcomes more in depth. An example of
where this unit could have been extended is evident within the project student sample. This students
decided to determine the probability of a paper, scissors and rock challenge. The student determined
that there were 3 possible outcomes (win. Lose and draw). This students could of extended their
learning by determining 9 possible outcomes (paper- win, lose and draw/ scissors- win, lose and
draw/ rock- win, lose and draw). Students could have presented this data in a tree diagram showing a
more extensive understanding of the topic. I also believe this unit should of included experiments
where outcomes were not equally likely. For example, having a spinner that is not divided into equally
into quarters. This enhances the difficulty of the experiments and questions in the tests, where
students need to demonstrate a deeper level of knowledge and apply the appropriate skills.