Abstract
People's intuitive feel for statistical reasoning is often biased and/or incorrect, which can have large detrimental consequences. During this activity the courtcase of Sally Clark is used to raise students
Copyright/Creative Commons
Materials are published under the
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
Introduction: Texts or videos about the case of Sally Clark. Activities for students:
- Try to understand the statistical reasoning behind both the conviction and the (three year later) acquittal of Sally Clark.
- Explore the difference between dependent and independent events with dice and a marble-draw. What are the similarities with the case of Sally Clark?
- Organize a (large) lottery in which there is one winner. Discuss with the group why the winning feels like luck instead of coincidence. Draw similarities with the case of Sally Clark.
- Debate with the class whether mathematics should really play an important role in the mediation and evidence of a crime, because of the risk of misinterpretation.
- Role-play court case: With your fellows take on the role of offense and defence in the case of Sally Clark. Make sure you statistically ground your arguments.
- Statistical reasoning
- (In)dependent events
- Probability
- Coincidence
- Genetics
Discipline
- Mathematics ✓
- Biology
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Engineering
Target group
- Primary Education
- Lower Secondary Education ✓
- Upper Secondary Education
Age range
11-15
Duration
50 min.
Documents
Credits
DE
Katharina Flößer and Katja Maaß, University of Education Freiburg
Universiteit Utrecht