Friday, October 12, 2007

147. Educating Kids about Gambling Math

I'm so glad to be finished with the official debate on the Saipan casino initiative. (And I dread seeing myself on local television!)

In a bit of follow-up research, I found this nifty site that offers a curriculum from Harvard Medical School for middle school kids on mathematics, probability and gaming--to help educate them about gambling and risk. FACING THE ODDS.

I like the bit about helping kids make the transition from "magical thinking" to "mathematical thinking." I'm not in middle-school, but it's been a long time since I took "probability and statistics" in college, so even I would like to be a student in this class!


(And now I hope to turn my blogging back to writing--and getting ready for NaNoWriMo!)

5 comments:

eluper said...

I thgink a good long read of my novel, BIG SLICK, will educate kids about gambling enough! :-)

Saipan Writer said...

Good point. I've been meaning to get around to reading and reviewing that for our local newspaper. Now is a really good time! Thanks for the reminder.

Pragmatic Plato said...

Jane,

Hop over to tinas forum on gambling. much being said. I am encouraged by the exchange of ideas. I do hope more focus is put on the SCA itself and less on Gambling in general.

http://www.tinasablan.com/forum/?p=13

Bree Reynolds said...

i've used those games. one in particular involves the students calculating the theoretical probability of rolling a 7 with 2 die and the actual probability by conducting an experiment where you make predictions about what numbers will be rolled and counting the actual rolls. statistically speaking 7 should be the most frequent number played with 2 die. Then we look at lottery cards and the probability data on the back. here, you could talk about the poker palaces and how the machines are set with 70% or lower odds of payout.

Saipan Writer said...

The need for this type of education will become more and more important in the CNMI, especially now that Rota has also added casinos to its future economic agenda. Keep up the good work, Marianas Life.