Game design
Numeracy Lesson 3
Statistics and probability
Introduction
Watch the video for an introduction to Lesson 3.
Understanding the tasks
Rating the tasks
This lesson contains a few activities. Each activity will have one or more tasks. These tasks have been given a rating.
Some of the tasks in this lesson are must do. These are important to help you understand the introductory ideas or skills.
Have a go at the should do tasks and reach out to your friends or teacher if you need some advice. These will usually take a bit longer to complete than must do tasks.
Could do tasks will probably take you some extra time and might need you to get creative or problem solve. We strongly encourage you to try these.
Activity 1 - Rock, paper, scissors
Task 2
Use the interactive cards on the right to remind yourself of some key definitions.
Use the embedded Rock, paper, scissors simulator below to play the game 30 times. (If the embed isn't working, open the Rock paper scissor simulator in a new tab.)
Record each game using the Results tab of the Google Sheets template.
Process the data from your Results tab by answering the questions in the Calculations tab of the Google Sheets template.
Answer the following questions in your exercise book or folder:
Did rock, paper and scissors appear an equal number of times?
Were the number of wins for Player 1, wins for Player 2 and drawn games equally spread out?
Are all outcomes equally likely?
Click on the button above to open a new tab and view the Google Sheets.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Task 3
Find another person to play Rock, paper, scissors with.
It can be someone in your house, or over video chat, as long as you can see each other's hand.
It cannot be someone who knows the winning strategy!
Play the game 30 times, making sure you use the winning strategy explained in Task 1.
Record each game using the Results tab of the second Google Sheets template.
Process the data from your Results tab by answering the questions in the Calculations tab of the second Google Sheets template.
Answer the following questions in your exercise book or folder:
Did rock, paper and scissors appear an equal number of times?
Were the number of wins for Player 1, wins for Player 2 and drawn games equally spread out?
Are all outcomes equally likely?
Are you more likely to win at the game Rock, paper, scissors when using dice or with another person?
Is playing the game using the simulation or with another person more likely to produce an even spread of results?
If the game was a draw, what move did each player tend to make in the next game?
Can you determine a winning strategy after a draw?
Click on the button above to open a new tab and view the Google Sheets.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Remember the winning strategy!
When you win, play the move your opponent just played.
When you lose, play the move that wasn’t just played.
Activity 2 - Infographics
Task 1
Click on the image to visit the 13 Scientific Reasons Why Your Brain Craves Infographics website.
Use information from the interactive to complete the questions below.
Task 2
Task 3
The following infographic, The rise of gaming revenue visualized from the Visual Capitalist website, should look familiar to you, as it was studied in Literacy Lesson 1. It shows the money made from video game development, starting with arcade games in the early 70’s through to cloud and VR games in 2020.
Use information from the infographic to complete the questions below.
Use the blue Check button and arrow at the bottom to move from question to question.
Activity 3 - Probability
Task 1
Click on the image to open Lesson 14: If/Else with Bee on the code.org website.
Watch the video introduction for Lesson 1.
Complete the rest of the 13 levels.
Note: Please do not sign in.
Task 2 - The Monty Hall problem
You’re on a game show and there are three doors in front of you. The host says, “Behind one door is a brand new car. Behind the other two doors are goats. Pick a door!”
Say you choose door number 1. Your host, Monty Hall, who knows where the car is, opens door number 2 and reveals a goat.
Monty says, “If you want, you can change to door number 3.”
What should you do? Keep your original choice or change to door number 3?
Follow the instructions in the Monty Hall problem Google Doc to use the Monty Hall Game simulation.
Click on the button above to open a new tab and view the Google Doc.
Click on the Use Template button to create a copy for you to edit.
Want to check your written answers for Activity 2 Task 2 and Activity 3 Task 2?
Activity 2 Task 2
Note: Many of these questions ask for an opinion, so you may not have the same answer.
Question 1:
In your opinion, is the Connected to Games infographic:
• visually appealing?
• shareable?
• easy to understand?
Suggested answer:
In my opinion the Connected to Games infographic is somewhat visually appealing and easy to understand. The use of bright colours and colour coding helps me to understand it and draws my attention. However, I found it confusing to know where to start reading as there wasn’t a clear reading path. The infographic has lots of great information and I would share it if someone I knew was looking into games and connection. However, it doesn’t share a compelling insight that I feel eager to share with others.
Question 2:
Which infographic do you find more visually appealing?
Suggested answer:
I find the infographic, The 5 most popular video games in Australia, far more visually appealing than the other infographic. I find it more visually appealing because it is less cluttered and there is a clearer message. The bar graph helps me to understand the data and what is being compared.
Question 3:
Which infographic do you find easier to understand and why?
Suggested answer:
I find the infographic, The 5 most popular video games in Australia, easier to understand because it has the titles of games that I am familiar with. I don’t know all the categories of games that are mentioned in the other infographic so it doesn’t mean as much to me.
Question 4:
Do these infographics convey the same message? Justify your response with information from the infographics.
Suggested answer:
In some ways, these infographics do convey similar messages. The infographic ‘Popular Game Genres’ shows that action and adventure are 2 of the most popular genres of game. Similarly, the other infographic shows that games of this genre, like Fortnite, are the most popular.
Activity 3 Task 2
Discussion question 1:
Do your results display a difference in your chance of winning based on whether or not you switched doors? Explain.
Suggested answer:
There was a significant difference in my chance of winning based on whether or not I changed doors. When I changed doors, I won 70% of the time, but when I did not, I only won 26% of the time.
Discussion question 3:
What is the probability of winning the Monty Hall Game? Explain.
Suggested answer:
The probability of winning depends on whether you choose to keep or change your door. If you do not change doors, you have a 1 in 3 chance of winning. However, if you do change doors, you have a 2 in 3 chance of winning.
Question 4:
Do you believe that you have a better chance of winning if you switch doors? Why?
Suggested answer:
You do have a better chance of winning if you change doors. It seems strange, but your chances improve because one option has now been eliminated. So, the chances of the other door, the door you didn’t choose, being correct becomes greater. It has a 1 minus one third chance. Also known as a 2 in 3 chance!
Handing in your work
Don't forget to hand in the work you completed today!
Your teacher will have told you to do one of the following:
Upload any digital documents you created and any photos you took of your written work to your Learning Management system (MS Teams, Google Classroom for example).
Email any digital documents you created and any photos you took of your written work to your teacher.
Make sure you keep any handwritten work you did in your exercise book or folder as your teacher may need to see these when you are back in class.