About Cake Walk Math Overview and motivation I have often overheard children talking among themselves on School Carnival Night about how many tickets they need to buy in order to be sure of winning a cake. They are interested in this question, so it presents a good opening for teaching elementary probability. I have also always been a bit bothered that a gambling activity is the traditional central event of the major elementary school fundraiser. Gambling can be a serious addiction for some people; having it at a school event seems to me incongruous, like serving alcohol or offering cigarettes. This activity is meant to counteract that. The hope is that if people understand the mathematics behind gambling they will be less vulnerable to the addiction. Responsible gambling is fun! This activity can be used either as part of a Math Night or as part of a School Carnival. If it is part of a Math Night, set up the Cake Walk just as you do on Carnival Night but without the cakes. You can give away pictures of cakes to "winners" or just have them mark the number on the chart. If you don't have sufficient space to set up all the chairs, you can just have the children play the role of the person selecting winners. If you use the activity on School Carnival night, set up the display where children can read it while waiting in line. Then, set up some very visible way of keeping track of winners, like large jars - one for each chair. Put a colored ping-pong ball in the jar each time its chair wins. You could also use a large chart on a whiteboard. If your school uses a Toy Walk or some other variation on a Cake Walk, just change the title and pictures. In case someone is reading this who doesn't know what a Cake Walk is, this is how it works. A number of chairs are arranged in a circle. Each chair is marked with a number. Each child playing sits in a chair. Music starts playing. The children get up and walk around the circle. The music stops. Each child sits in the nearest chair. The person running the game chooses a number. The child sitting in the chair with that number wins a cake. Materials Whatever you use for your school Cake Walk: * Chairs labelled with numbers * Selection device (hat with numbers, dice, spinner) * Tape player with music Some way to chart the winners: * Chart from "Printable Materials" or * Jars with ping-pong balls or * Chart drawn on chalkboard or whiteboard Discussion questions from "Printable Materials" Calculator Paper and pencils Doing the Activity There are three activities on the trifold. The left panel activity involves playing the Cake Walk, keeping track of which numbers win. The middle panel activity involves calculating your chances of winning depending on how many times you play. There is a chart as well as an explanation of how the chart was generated. Talk about the chart with the children and ask and answer questions. Use the calculator to calculate values not on the chart. The right panel activity shows another way to calculate your chance of winning. It shows a possibility tree. Explain how this tree works and have the children do calculations. Sources and references Conned Again, Watson: Cautionary Tales of Logic, Math, and Probability by Colin Bruce has Sherlock Holmes stories centered around mathematical topics including probability and possibility trees. Schoolcarnivals.com has ideas and supplies for school carnivals. Youth Gambling International - does research on and treatment of youth gambling problems. Website has information about gambling directed at young people. Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling - has statistics about how big a problem gambling is among young people; also info. about curriculum materials Written by Wendy Ashlock 5/3/04