Now, we all know that the probability of tossing a coin and getting a head is the same as tossing a coin and getting a tail. But this does not mean that if we get a head on the first toss we will get a tail on the second. The chances are equal on each toss of the coin, independent of what happened on the toss before. It is quite possible to have a run of heads up to 4 or 5 or more in a row.
The first worksheet explores this idea. It is important to get your children to write down their predictions before they start, carry out the coin tossing and then to compare the prediction to the results. Ask questions such as “If we carried out the coin tossing again would we get the same results?”
The second worksheet explore the same idea, but this time with even or odd numbers on a die. There predictions may well be biased as a result of what they think has happened to them when playing dice games: “I never get a six….”
Again it is unlikely (but by no means impossible) that after 50 throws of a die that 25 odd and 25 even numbers are actually thrown, but as a prediction this would be excellent.