After learning about probability in Mr. Clifford Frederick’s Academic Quantitative Reasoning (AQR) class, students hosted the AQR Carnival on Oct. 24 and 25. At the carnival, groups of students planned different carnival activities, like cornhole and ring toss, to demonstrate their knowledge of probability in the real world.
“AQR is an interesting fourth-year math course, where I show [students] where math is used in real life,” Mr. Frederick said. “We’re on the unit of probability, so [through this project] they learn about the probability in carnival games, and we invite the functional and life skills (FALS) students to come and play.”
In addition to learning about probability, students in AQR also learn how to work with others and have the opportunity to work with FALS students. Senior Jasmine Capetillo played cornhole with her group.
“[Our project] is about how well it will do and how much profit we [would make,]” Capetillo said. “It’s very interactive. It actually gets us engaged and interested because we get to play games so we actually want to get it done and want to do it.”
Junior Rylee Leduc is a helper in Partners in Art, and took her students to participate in the carnival. Her students played each game about five times.
“[The carnival] gave them a break from the typical school day, and you get to see them come out of their shell,” Leduc said. “They get excited about prizes and games, no matter how good they are at each game.”
For their carnival game, each student had to plan a business model to ensure the game wasn’t too easy or too hard, and that it would survive if used as an actual game. Players were awarded different prizes for placing first, second, or third, and all FALS students were awarded a prize for participation.
“The students [them]selves visually then get to see it, and when this is all over, we have a debriefing session. They get to see it in real life versus [talking] about in class and [taking] a test,” Mr. Frederick said. “The FALS students enjoy it as well. It gets them out of the classroom and challenges them.”
