The teacher poses three questions: how likely are five heads in a row, is a total of 7 or a total of 6 more likely with two dice, and is getting at least one six in four rolls more or less likely than not, the puzzle the Chevalier de Méré brought to Pascal. Students vote on each in a Mentimeter poll before anything is run. Each student then opens their own tab of a teacher-built Google Sheet where RANDBETWEEN simulates 1,000 trials of each question, re-runs it a few times by typing in any cell, and enters their results on a class summary tab that adds up the class's 30,000 trials. The teacher compares the pooled results with the predictions and the theoretical answers (1/32, 6/36 against 5/36, and about 52%), and students write one sentence on which of their intuitions was wrong and why.
Tools: Google Sheets, Mentimeter Nine ideas for your own version in Generate
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.