Effective undergraduate statistical education requires training using real-world data. Textbook datasets seldom match the complexities and messiness of real-world data and finding these datasets can be challenging for educators. Consulting and industrial datasets often have nondisclosure agreements. Academic datasets often require subject area…

Popular game shows offer educators the opportunity to develop active-learning exercises that provide students with a real-world connection to analytical reasoning and methods. We describe a classroom assignment developed for quantitative business courses based on the Monty Hall Problem (MHP), a probability puzzle with ties to the long-running…

This article presents ways to explore mathematical concepts using Catan, a popular board game. After a brief overview of game play, we explore considerations with many potential entry points for mathematical modeling, such as which resource is the best, which resources will be rare or plentiful, where to build, and risk assessment.

This article describes the adaptation and use of the Monopoly® board game as a simple simulator to help introduce the principles of probability and risk. It focusses on teaching experiences in an undergraduate business program and offers a new approach to teaching probability and risk with dice to produce a collaborative simulated gaming…

The Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD), made famous by the television game show Let's Make a Deal, can be an effective teaching tool with wide ranging behavioral science applications. The format and history of the problem are presented as well as experimental data and variations on the original design. Strategic game playing choices are discussed from…

There is considerable research on the difficulties students have in conceptualising individual concepts of probability and statistics (see for example, Bryant & Nunes, 2012; Jones, 2005). The unit of work developed for the action research project described in this article is specifically designed to address some of these in order to help…

This article describes an activity that involves the use of simulation for decision-making. It is useful for demonstrating concepts in probability and statistics. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

Discusses a problem involving probability and uncertainty that students can investigate experimentally or theoretically and transforms the problem to a two-player game so that students can be introduced to some fundamental concepts of decision making. Includes computer programs used to analyze the problems. (MKR)

Based on the game "Prisoners' Dilemma," a game-theoretical model of the arms race suitable for postsecondary level mathematics and/or political science students is developed in which two players can initially choose any level of arms development. The purpose of the game is to show under what conditions deescalation rather than escalation…

Presents an activity to analyze the data from the Challenger explosion to help students understand the critical role of statistics in decision making and the importance of considering all available data. (MKR)

"Differentiating Instruction With Menus Grades 3-5" offers teachers everything they need to create a student-centered learning environment based on choice. Addressing the four main subject areas (language arts, math, science, and social studies) and the major concepts taught within these areas, these books provide a number of different types of…

This textbook for teaching reasoning processes and decision making under conditions of uncertainty is written at an introductory level. Based on a translation of a Hebrew book, the text is intended for the general training of military and civilian personnel required to process, sort, and/or evaluate incomplete, unreliable information. Potential…

The intuitive simplicity of probability can be deceiving. Described is a dialogue that presents arguments for conflicting solutions to a seemingly simple problem determining the probability of having two boys in a two-child family knowing that one child is a boy. Solutions contain multiple arguments and representations. (MDH)

Uses the various strategies involved in baseball to illustrate basic concepts in game theory. Specifically discusses Willie Mays' base-stealing strategy and how it relates to probability and risk. Reminds students that expected results depend on adopted assumptions. (MJP)

Presents activities taken from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Addendum Series, grades 5-8, involving data collection and chance. Students determine whether a game is fair based on the data collected and examine rule changes to ensure fairness. (MDH)