Teaching & Learning PlansPlan 5: Introduction to

Playing Cards

Junior Certificate Syllabus

The Teaching & Learning Plans are structured as follows:

Aims outline what the lesson, or series of lessons, hopes to achieve.

Prior Knowledge points to relevant knowledge students may already have and also to knowledge which may be necessary in order to support them in accessing this new topic.

Learning Outcomes outline what a student will be able to do, know and understand having completed the topic.

Relationship to Syllabus refers to the relevant section of either the Junior and/or Leaving Certificate Syllabus.

Resources Required lists the resources which will be needed in the teaching and learning of a particular topic.

Introducing the topic (in some plans only) outlines an approach to introducing the topic.

Lesson Interaction is set out under four sub-headings:

i. Student Learning Tasks – Teacher Input: This section focuses on teacher input and gives details of the key student tasks and teacher questions which move the lesson forward.

ii. Student Activities – Possible and Expected Responses: Gives details of possible student reactions and responses and possible misconceptions students may have.

iii. Teacher’s Support and Actions: Gives details of teacher actions designed to support and scaffold student learning.

iv. Checking Understanding: Suggests questions a teacher might ask to evaluate whether the goals/learning outcomes are being/have been achieved. This evaluation will inform and direct the teaching and learning activities of the next class(es).

Student Activities linked to the lesson(s) are provided at the end of each plan.

© Project Maths Development Team 2009 www.projectmaths.ie 1

Teaching & Learning Plan 5: Introduction to Playing Cards

AimsTo familiarise students with a typical pack (or deck) of playing cards, which •contains 52 cards in four suits: diamonds and hearts (red suits), clubs and spades (black suits). [Note that ‘jokers’ are not included.]

Prior Knowledge Students should have prior knowledge (from T and L Plan 1 and/or from primary school) of some terms associated with chance. No prior knowledge of playing cards is assumed.

Students may need to adjust their understanding of terms such as ‘suit’ when applied to playing cards. Some students may have different names for the ‘pack’ (such as ‘deck’) or for individual cards such as the ‘jack’ (‘knave’). Care should be taken that all students are familiar with the name(s) that are used in the activities.

Students should know that 4 and 13 are factors of 52, i.e. that 52 is a multiple of both 4 and 13.

Learning OutcomesAs a result of studying this topic, students will be able to

recognise a deck of cards, knowing: the names of the 4 suits; how many •cards in a pack; how many in each suit; and the names of the cards in each suit

calculate the theoretical probability of picking different cards from the •pack

Teaching & Learning Plan 5: Introduction to Playing Cards

© Project Maths Development Team 2009 www.projectmaths.ie 2

Relationship to Junior Certificate SyllabusSub-topics Ordinary Level Higher Level1.5 Counting List all possible outcomes

of an experiment.

Apply the fundamental principle of counting.

1.6 Concepts of probability

Estimate probabilities from experimental data.Recognise that, if an experiment is repeated, there will be different outcomes and that increasing the number of times an experiment is repeated generally leads to better estimates of probability.

1.7 Outcomes of simple random processes

Apply the principle that, in the case of equally likely outcomes, the probability is given by the number of outcomes of interest divided by the total number of outcomes.

Resources RequiredDecks of cards for students

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Teaching & Learning Plan 5: Introduction to Playing Cards

© Project Maths Development Team 2009 www.projectmaths.ie 5

Student Activity 1

Questions to familiarise students with the deck/pack of cards

1. How many cards are in the deck/pack? _________________________________________

2. How many different types of cards, i.e. suits, are there? _________________________

3. Name the ‘suits’. _____________________________________________________________

4. How many black suits are there? ______________________________________________

5. How many red suits are there? ________________________________________________

6. How many cards in each suit? _________________________________________________

7. List the cards in any one suit. __________________________________________________

8. What is the name given to the card with an A written on it? ____________________

9. What is a ‘face’ (picture) card? ________________________________________________

10. How many ‘face’ cards are there in each suit? __________________________________

11. Name the ‘face’ cards. (Aces are not considered to be ‘face’ cards.) _______________

12. How many numbered cards does each suit have? _______________________________

13. How many even numbered cards does each suit have? __________________________

14. How many odd numbered cards does each suit have? ___________________________

15. How many non-numbered (lettered) cards are in each suit? ______________________

16. Which card is non-numbered and is not a face (picture) card? ____________________

17. How many black cards are there in a fair deck? _________________________________

18. How many red cards are there in a fair deck? ___________________________________

19. In the whole deck:

a. How many even numbered cards are there? ____________________________________

b. How many odd numbered cards are there? _____________________________________

c. How many lettered cards are there? ___________________________________________

d. How many picture (face) cards are there? ______________________________________

e. How many of each kind of card are there in the full pack? (i.e. how many 1’s, 2’s, …

Aces, Kings, etc)? _____________________________________________________________

f. What is the lowest numbered card you can pick in any suit? _____________________

Teaching & Learning Plan 5: Introduction to Playing Cards

© Project Maths Development Team 2009 www.projectmaths.ie 6

Student Activity 2

Probability questions for a fair Deck of Cards

1. What is the probability that the card is red? ____________________________________

2. What is the probability that the card is a from the heart suit? ____________________

3. What is the probability that the card is a Queen? _______________________________

4. What is the probability that the card is the Queen of Spades? ___________________

5. What is the probability that the card is a picture card? __________________________

6. What is the probability that the card is a two-eyed Jack? ________________________

7. What is the probability that the card is a one-eyed King? ________________________

8. What is the probability that the card is even numbered? ________________________

9. What is the probability that the card has a number on it? _______________________

10. Not all the cards look the same when you turn them around. What is the probability

that the card does not look exactly the same when it is turned around? __________

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