Maryland Math 8.DS.C.6.a
The Standard
- 8.DS.C.6
- Find probabilities of compound events by representing or simulating the sample space or simulating events.
Represent the sample space for a compound event using organized lists, tables, or tree diagrams. Given an event described in everyday language, identify the outcomes in the sample space that make up the event.
Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for Mathematics (2025) · MODEL AND ANALYZE PROBABILITY TO INTERPRET CHANCE EVENTS AND MAKE PREDICTIONS. NEW CLUSTER
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students list every possible result of two chance actions using an organized list, table, or tree diagram. They pick out the results that match a description such as “tails or red.”
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student makes a complete six-outcome table for a coin toss and a three-color spinner. They correctly mark all four outcomes that match “tails or red,” without counting tails and red twice.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may add the number of coin and spinner results instead of pairing each coin result with each color. They may miss an outcome, list one twice, or treat “or” as meaning both conditions must happen.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A coin is flipped and a spinner with red, blue, and green sections is spun. List every possible pair in a table, then circle the pairs that match “tails or red.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a coin and a three-color spinner; have them record trials, then fill a table with all six possible pairs.
Show a table for two dice and ask, “Which pairs have at least one six, and why does (6, 6) count once?”
Race partners to draw a tree for cards numbered 1, 2, 3 and a coin toss; circle results with an odd number and heads.
Use a lunch menu with two mains and three sides; list every meal pair and mark the meals with a fruit side.
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Related Standards
- 7.DS.C.5.c
Use visual representations (e.g., bar graphs, circle graphs) to compare and interpret probabilities.
- 8.DS.C.6
Find probabilities of compound events by representing or simulating the sample space or simulating events.
- 8.DS.C.6.b
Determine the probability of a compound event as a fraction of outcomes in the sample space that result in the event.
- 7.DS.C.6
Develop and use probability models to find probabilities of events and compare them to observed results.
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