On December 8th, students taking AP statistics with Ms. Peterson participated in the annual Statistics Fair during lunch in the quad. All AP stat students were required to participate in this fair, which yielded a remarkable 45 booths. Students not taking this class were able to cycle through all of the booths during lunch, winning prizes if they beat the odds.
The fair coincided with their unit on probability, so students were tasked to create a casino-like game that had statistics backing the house’s success. AP statistics and regular statistics teacher Taylor Peterson explained how the students “learned the idea that all casinos want to have a profit, so they had to make theirs have some sort of way of not benefitting the person who is playing the game, but the ‘fair’”.
The statisticians had two weeks to prepare their projects for the fair, during class time and time at home. Each person could have 1-2 partners of their choosing, making this assignment more engaging. They were given a few basic rules in terms of making the project: they were required to have an independent and dependent part of it in terms of different scenarios within the game. However, besides those guidelines they were given total creative freedom on what kind of game to make.
Although this fair was quite literally fun and games, there was a learning objective behind it as well. The students were expected to confirm their understanding of probability by practicing the material in real life scenarios. Senior Emmie Cimperman said, “I learned a lot about how to apply the stuff we learned in class to real world problems by participating in people’s games.”
The quad was bustling with activity that day, with many students intrigued by these colorful games. Senior Avery Appleton said, “My favorite part was getting to see everyone else’s posters. I really enjoyed seeing how much everyone was into this fair.”
There were many benefits to this fair, including allowing the students to apply their learning in an entertaining way, but it also shed some positive light on the math department. Many students don’t believe math can be pleasurable or fun, however, this fair proved that stereotype wrong. There are ways to enjoy this subject that “gets the whole school involved, which is a nice way [to have fun] for math,” said Peterson.
