IPS - Day 18

Today we completed the Abby's Kennel investigation. Although it took a couple of days, the discussion today about the relationship between conditional probabilities, multiplying probabilities, and independence was healthy. It appears there is a better understanding of the interplay of these concepts that I have seen in the past.

After discussing the calculations and their meaning, we looked at a few more examples of conditional probability. These were to assess student understanding. Overall, the class seemed to grasp what was happening when a condition was placed on a probability.

I briefly touched on ways that we have been able to represent probabilities and mentioned that conditional probabilities can be looked at from the perspective of any of these representations. I will cover this more explicitly next class before students work through practice problems.

We then worked through a simply presentation of tabular data that represented infant hearing screening tests compared to actual hearing loss. Several questions were posed and the most difficult aspect of these questions is deciphering precisely what is the condition and what is the desired outcome. Again, there was healthy discussion about the meanings of the problems and the results.

Students wrapped up the class by summarizing in their notes what they saw as the connection between conditional probability and independence.

We'll work through problems next class and then take a closer look at the idea of independence.

Visit the class summary for a student's perspective of the class and to view the lesson slides.