Roll It! Learning About Chance with Dice
Have you ever played a board game and rolled a die? You pick it up, give it a toss, and — what number will it land on? Nobody knows until it lands! That mystery is called CHANCE. And dice are one of the best ways to start learning about it.
What You'll Learn
In this lesson you will: - Learn what the word chance means - Find out how many sides a die has and what numbers are on it - Discover that every side has the same chance of landing on top - Practice predicting and recording what you roll
What Is Chance?
Chance means something MIGHT happen, but you are not sure if it will. When you flip a coin, it might land on heads or it might land on tails. You cannot know for sure before it happens. When you roll a die, any of the six sides might land on top. That is chance! Some things happen by chance, and some things do not. If you drop a ball, it will always fall down — no chance there. But roll a die? That is full of chance!
One cube is called a die. Two or more cubes are called dice. So you roll one die, or you roll two dice! Dice have been used in games for over 5,000 years — ancient Egyptians played with them!
A Die Has Six Sides
A regular die is a little cube. It has six flat sides. Each side has a different number of dots: - Side 1: one dot - Side 2: two dots - Side 3: three dots - Side 4: four dots - Side 5: five dots - Side 6: six dots No matter how you roll it, only ONE side can land on top. And here is the cool part: every side has the SAME chance of landing on top. The die does not pick favorites!
What Might Happen When You Roll?
When you roll a die, you can get 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. Each one is equally likely — that means each number has the same chance as every other number. If you rolled a die 6 times, you might hope to see each number once. But chance does not always work that perfectly! You might roll three 4s and no 1s at all. That is okay — that is just how chance works. The more times you roll, the more each number will start to even out.
Match each die side to what you would see on top when it lands.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
You roll a die. Which number is MOST likely to come up?
What does CHANCE mean?
Roll and Tally!
You will need: one die and a piece of paper. 1. At the top of your paper, draw six columns. Label them 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. 2. Roll the die 12 times. 3. Each time you roll, make a tally mark (a short line) in the column for the number you rolled. 4. After 12 rolls, count the tally marks in each column. 5. Which number came up the most? Which came up the least? 6. Did every number come up exactly 2 times? Why do you think that happened? 7. Draw a star next to the column that surprised you the most!
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
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