Max Maths, Year 5, Learn together, Describing the occurrence of familiar events

In the Max Maths Year 5 curriculum, students explore the concept of probability, learning to describe the likelihood of familiar events occurring. This topic is introduced under the banner of 'Let's Learn Together', emphasizing a collaborative approach to understanding chance and likelihood. Probability is explained as a scale ranging from 'impossible' to 'certain', with 'unlikely', 'even', and 'likely' serving as gradations between these two extremes. Through practical examples, children grasp how to assess the chances of different outcomes.

For instance, when flipping a coin, students learn that there is an 'even' chance of landing on heads, meaning that heads and tails are equally likely to occur. Similarly, when rolling a die, the chance of getting an odd number is also 'even', as there are three odd numbers and three even numbers on a standard six-sided die. In contrast, the curriculum illustrates an 'impossible' event by considering the spin of a number wheel labeled from 1 to 10; spinning a 12 is impossible since the number is not present on the wheel. On the other hand, an example of a 'certain' event is the sunrise the next day, an occurrence that we know will happen without any doubt. These examples help students to understand and apply the concept of probability to everyday scenarios.