PD opportunity: A High School Probability Course with REAL answers

Create a new mindset for mathematics teaching and learning that is applications-based & problem-driven. Experience the standards for mathematical practices as they come to life with probabilistic decision models.

When will we ever use this?

Probabilistic Models of Complex Decisions for High School Mathematics

Professional Development Workshop – 3 days

Probabilistic models are critical for improving decision making in the uncertain environment

faced by businesses, government, and each of us on a personal level. This workshop provides a

wide array of contexts that involve the development and interpretation of probabilistic decision

models. Probabilistic reasoning is emphasized and technology is employed to represent

randomness. Participants will learn to use probabilistic models to assess risk and explore options.

The curriculum is applications-based and problem-driven. These include applications from

medical testing, investment, scheduling, the hospitality industry, health care management, sports,

personal life, and emergency services. We say that it is problem-driven because the problems are

stated up front and drive the development of the mathematical ideas. In this way, we hope to

improve students’ ability to solve multi-step problems and interpret the results. Through this

approach, we demonstrate the broad applicability of mathematics. This obviates a common

student question and complaint: When will we ever use this stuff?

The workshop materials are currently in use in high schools in Michigan, North Carolina,

Georgia, California, New York and Indiana.

For more information visit our website.