Work by yourself to answer the following questions. Record your answers in your technology notebook.
Think about times in your own life when you have used words related to chance or how likely it was something would happen. List two to three examples of the sentences you have used that relate to chance.
Have you made decisions about what you will do because something is either likely or unlikely to happen? What did you decide to do? Write your ideas in your technology notebook.
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Perhaps you want to go on a picnic with your family. For each of the following, write whether you would go on the picnic, and then explain why you would make that decision.
- Would you go ahead with your picnic if the weather forecast says there is a slight chance of a storm?
- What if the forecast says there is an even chance of a storm?
- What if the forecast says that a storm is somewhat likely?
Answers to Reflect and Connect
Allow students time to answer these questions. Once they have had time to complete their responses, you may want to hold a class discussion on some or all of them.
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Think about times in your own life when you have used words related to chance or how likely it was something would happen. List two to three examples of the sentences you have used that relate to chance.
Students’ responses will vary depending on individual experiences.
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Have you made decisions about what you will do because something is either likely or unlikely to happen? What did you decide to do? Write your ideas in your technology notebook.
Students’ responses will vary. They may think of a time when their families decided not to go to an outdoor event because it looked like rain, or they may say that they did not do their homework one day because they thought a snowstorm might cause school to be canceled the next day.
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Perhaps you want to go on a picnic with your family. For each of the following, write whether you would go on the picnic, and then explain why you would make that decision.
- Would you go ahead with your picnic if the weather forecast says there is a slight chance of a storm?
- What if the forecast says there is an even chance of a storm?
- What if the forecast says that a storm is somewhat likely?
As they answer these questions, students will begin to consider how their judgments about the likelihood of a future event influence their decision making. People often make decisions to do or not to do certain things based on their perceptions about the chance of some condition. This is an idea that students will continue to revisit during the rest of this chapter. They will have different answers to Questions 3a–3c, and there is no single, correct answer.