Real-world phenomena simulation models, which can be used to engage middle-school students with probability, are described. Links to R instructional material and easy-to-use code are provided to facilitate implementation in the classroom.

This is an activity for younger learners in which the concepts of relative frequency and probability are explored, illustrating how a creative, non-transmission teaching approach using bottle tops can enable students to develop their understanding in an engaging fashion and at almost no cost.

Assuming a coin is fair is common place in introductory statistical education. This article offers three approaches to test if a coin is fair. The approaches lend themselves to straightforward simulation studies that can enrich student understanding of joint probability and sample size requirements. Simulation studies comparing the relative merits…

This paper deals with the analysis of cricket match results from the ICC World Cup 2011. We believe that such data provide good material for interesting classroom exercises. (Contains 7 tables and 1 figure.)

Data analysis requires subtle probability reasoning to answer questions like "What is the chance of event A occurring, given that event B was observed?" This generic question arises in discussions of many intriguing scientific questions such as "What is the probability that an adolescent weighs between 120 and 140 pounds given that…

In introductory statistics courses, the concept of power is usually presented in the context of testing hypotheses about the population mean. We instead propose an exercise that uses a binomial probability table to introduce the idea of power in the context of testing a population proportion. (Contains 2 tables, and 2 figures.)

We consider three examples from our own teaching in which much was learned by critically examining examples from books. Even influential and well-regarded books can have examples where more can be learned with a small amount of additional effort. (Contains 3 figures.)

This article presents engaging interactive hypothesis tests which can be conducted with students very efficiently.

This article advocates biased spinners as an engaging context for statistics students. Calculating the probability of a biased spinner landing on a particular side makes valuable connections between probability and other areas of mathematics. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.)

We describe an approach to teaching probability that minimizes the amount of class time spent on the topic while also providing a meaningful (dice-rolling) activity to get students engaged. The activity, which has a surprising outcome, illustrates the basic ideas of informal probability and how probability is used in statistical inference.…

This note shows how some density functions for continuous probability distributions can be constructed in a transparent manner to help students appreciate their development.

The need to encourage "what if" questions for statistical thinking in a classroom environment is stressed in this article. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

This article, written jointly by a mathematician and a barrister, looks at some of the statistical issues raised by court cases based on fraud involving chip and PIN cards. It provides examples and insights that statistics teachers should find helpful. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

We present a simple card game whose payout depends on a player's strategy, as well as on chance. Solutions require the use of conditional analysis and the computation of expected values.

The sampling (probability) distribution for the sum of dice is presented graphically as a compelling demonstration of the Central Limit Theorem.