One Week Left

OK, now I feel like I'm not getting my money's worth. Two more snow days brings the total to four, and with the earlier days off - six exam days plus a holiday, I've missed over two full weeks of experience.

The unit I had planned on probability is well behind where I wanted to be at this point - we've only had 6 classes and I had hoped to be well into permutations and combinations.

I've done a few things as preparation for the permutation and combination material, and relating it to playing blackjack. I assigned a short reading describing the rules of blackjack, and a reflection that asks for the rules was also a part of the assignment. Also, last week we used about 45 total minutes of class time to watch an episode of the CBS show "NUMB3RS", in this case an episode based on a blackjack card counting ring. In the final week of class I hope to leverage that background and use a simple strategy and support it by calculating the probability of winning with it.

The grades on the first quiz were not encouraging, especially since most of this basic material is common sense. A total of 16 out of 34 students managed a 6 out of 9 or greater. On Friday, they corrected their quizzes, and a retest is required for those with less than 6. This provides an additional opportunity to demonstrate their learning. I've also set up 3 lunch hours that will act as problem solving sessions and the students must attend 2 out of 3 to be eligible for credit in this unit.

The resistance to doing anything over the winter break was fierce. Two short readings, and an associated written assignment for each, both intended to fill in some of the gaps regarding probabilities. One reading was about the chances of winning the lottery, and how those odds are calculated. The other reading was a good explanation of permutations and combinations. I hope they will take a shot at some slef-directed learning for these topics - there are only 3 classes left, and I'll have to use at least part of one for another quiz.

There were quite a few students out on Friday - not surprising, after two more snow days and a vacation coming up. Three students also skipped the afternoon class, and Larry notified their advisors.