Happy Pi Day! This collection of games, experiments, and activities leads participants through an exploration of the many aspects and attributes of that mysterious quantity, pi. Activities range from using statistical experimentation to derive an approximation of pi, to investigating the properties of the first hundred digits of pi, to geometric considerations. The author addresses a wide gamut of learner abilities, learning styles, and time constraints in this engaging and far-reaching selection.

Concepts

statistics, probability, linear, linear regression, histograms, equation of a circle

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Great activities for centers, rotating learners through the various activities in small groups
• Could incorporate as part of a larger Pi Day celebration; perhaps including science classes for probability experiment portions
• Participants could recieve punch cards and "punches" for activity completion. The person with the most punches or who completes the whole card receives a prize

Classroom Considerations

• Activities vary significantly in amount of support, time and pre-requisite knowledge required
• In the activity "Buffon's Needle" the terms needle and toothpick are used interchangeably. Experiment will work with either

Pros

• Wide variety of learning modalities and abilities engaged
• Activities for almost any time constraints
• Easily broken apart into mini-activities, or kept whole as a unit

Cons

• The story "Chaos in Ius" (written by a 6th grade student) contains minor typographical errors
• On p. 10 the link for Mathematics Educators of Greater St. Louis http://www.mobot.org/education/megsl/pi.html is outdated and should be www.megsl.org/pi.html

Common Core

HSN-Q.A.2 HSF-TF.B.5 HSG-GPE.A.1 HSS-ID.A.1 HSS-ID.A.2 HSS-ID.A.3 HSS-ID.B.6.a HSS-MD.B.7