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9.  Adjustable Spinner:
Experimenting with probability using a digital spinner

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	SREB Readiness Indicator Determine the number of ways events can occur and the associated probabilities. > Additional indicators
	Skills Record results of stochastic events and compare to mathematical probabilities Identify and predict outcomes of stochastic events based on probabilistic thinking Construct sample spaces and determine the number of possible outcomes
	Figure 1: Spinner before modifications (Click to test this tool)

Overview

The Shodor Education Foundation's Adjustable Spinner (Figure 1) is a technology-enhanced version of a traditional spinner that enables students to custom design their own spinner and conduct thousands of trials. Like its cardboard cousin, this spinner can be used as a hands-on classroom activity to give students the opportunity to explore the concepts of probability. Students can include up to nine sections in their design, adjusting each to represent a different percentage of the whole. A chart below the spinner displays the theoretical probability and records and updates the experimental probability for each sector of the spinner.

The Value of This Technology

With a digital spinner, students can easily change the number and size of sectors on the wheel and conduct an almost endless number of trials, helping them to test and re-test their conceptual understandings. Because they can conduct a large number of trials in a matter of seconds, students can also use the web-based Adjustable Spinner to demonstrate complex concepts of probability.

Look in the Classroom

Mr. Haddad recognizes that it is necessary for his students to have numerous experiences with probabilistic events in order to build an intuitive understanding of probability...
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