Ms. Randall, a sixth grade math teacher, has planned a lesson to meet the probability standards in her curriculum. Because there are so many math standards that must be covered, she is unable to plan an entire unit on probability for her four sixth grade math classes. She knows that the concepts in probability are abstract and that her students have not had much experience with probability concepts at earlier grades. Ms. Randall knows that for students to understand probability, they must do experiments and record and analyze results. Experiments take time, and the hand held spinners have a fixed number of sectors, making it difficult to vary the level of the problem

Ms. Randall's four classes represent a heterogeneous mix of students. Her classes range from 28 students to 32 students. She plans to teach this lesson to the 31 students in her third period class. The students represent a heterogeneous mix of skills and abilities. There are 5 students who are English language learners, 2 students with specific learning disabilities, and 7 students who are struggling math students.

Ms. Randall's dilemma is how to plan one lesson to help her students understand the relationship between theoretical and experimental probability.