Math Month Kicks Off With a Statistics Carnival

Each April, math classrooms across the country celebrate Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month by seeking out rich activities that promote a deeper interest and understanding in the fields of mathematics and statistics. This year, students in Upper School Teacher Barbara Filler’s Statistics classes participated by holding a Statistics Carnival on Waddell Terrace and inviting teachers and students from across all three divisions to join in on the fun. 

The Statistics Carnival was not, however, all fun and games. Mrs. Filler’s students intentionally created games with varying probabilities of success. Students from Middle School Teachers Jacqueline Tuck and Corbin Orgain’s sixth- and seventh-grade classes and Upper School Teacher Scottie O’Neill’s Precalculus class visited the Statistics Carnival and discovered, while playing games and sharing laughs, that the concept of probability went hand-in-hand with both how fair and how fun each game was. 

Lower School Teachers Heidi Bailey and Emily Oliff also visited the Statistics Carnival and were inspired to see their fifth-grade classes excited and engaged in learning about probability. While shooting a basketball, throwing a beanbag, drawing an object from a hat, or even playing Plinko, the visiting students discovered that some games were harder to win than others. Meanwhile, the Statistics students reflected on how their theoretical probability calculations compared to the experimental data they gathered.

“This was a day of math in action,” remarked Ms. O’Neill. Ms.Tuck added, “Our game testers had many ‘a-ha’ moments when they made real connections between what they learned in the classroom and real-world events.” Ms. Orgain noted, “It is opportunities like this, when students experience math, that will help them remember a concept better and help them to become future innovators and problem solvers.”

Building math skills through fresh, creative experiences is one way Steward math teachers inspire and challenge their students.