MIT BLOSSOMS - The Broken Stick Experiment: Triangles, Random Numbers and Probability

This learning video is designed to develop critical thinking in students by encouraging them to work from basic principals to solve a puzzling mathematics problem that contains uncertainty. One class session of approximately 55 minutes is necessary for lesson completion. First-year simple algebra is all that is required for the lesson, and any high school student in a college-preparatory math class should be able to participate in this exercise. Materials for in-class activities include: a yard stick, a meter stick or a straight branch of a tree; a saw or equivalent to cut the stick; and a blackboard or equivalent. In this video lesson, during in-class sessions between video segments, students will learn among other things: 1) how to generate random numbers; 2) how to deal with probability; and 3) how to construct and draw portions of the X-Y plane that satisfy linear inequalities.
Resource ID#: 18402 Type: Problem-Solving Task
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Direct Link: https://web.mit.edu/blossoms/videos/lessons/broken_stick_experiment_triangles_random_numbers_and_probability

General Information

Subject(s): Mathematics
Grade Level(s): 9, 10, 11, 12
Intended Audience: Educators educators
Suggested Technology: Computer for Presenter, LCD Projector, Speakers/Headphones, Adobe Flash Player
Instructional Time: 55 Minute(s)
Keywords: triangles, Broken Stick Problem, probability, probability of forming a triangle
Instructional Component Type(s): Problem-Solving Task,  Video/Audio/Animation,  Teaching Idea
Instructional Design Framework(s): Confirmation Inquiry (Level 1)
Resource Collection: MIT BLOSSOMS

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