What students learn in AC9M3P01
This unit helps students build a clear, usable understanding of Practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes.... The goal is not to memorise one answer pattern. Students should be able to explain the idea, recognise it in a new example and apply it in a short practice or worksheet task.
- Start with the main idea: identify practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes and events as ‘likely’ or ‘unlikely’ and identify some events as ‘certain’ or ‘impossible’ explaining reasoning.
- Use concrete examples, pictures, oral explanation and short written responses before moving to independent practice.
- predicting what could happen next in practical activities that involve an element of chance, considering possible outcomes and using terms such as “likely” or “unlikely” to explain their predictions classifying a list of everyday events or sorting a set of event cards according to how likely they are to happen, using the language of chance and giving reasons for classifications; discussing how impossible outcomes cannot ever happen, uncertain outcomes are affected by chance as they may or may not happen whereas certain events must always happen, so they are not affected by chance
- Finish with mixed questions so students must choose the correct strategy rather than copy the last example.
Curriculum coverage and elaborations
The content description and elaborations below show the curriculum ideas taught in this unit. Items marked as teaching context support lesson planning but may not appear in the initial eight-question activity.
- Content description: identify practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes and events as ‘likely’ or ‘unlikely’ and identify some events as ‘certain’ or ‘impossible’ explaining reasoning
- E1: predicting what could happen next in practical activities that involve an element of chance, considering possible outcomes and using terms such as “likely” or “unlikely” to explain their predictions
- E2: classifying a list of everyday events or sorting a set of event cards according to how likely they are to happen, using the language of chance and giving reasons for classifications; discussing how impossible outcomes cannot ever happen, uncertain outcomes are affected by chance as they may or may not happen whereas certain events must always happen, so they are not affected by chance
- E3: making predictions and testing what would happen; for example, if 10 names were put in a box, and names were then drawn out one at a time and replaced after each selection, discussing how likely it would be after 10 selections that all 10 names were drawn from the box or that one name was drawn multiple times
- E4: role-playing being a chatbot or virtual assistant responding to a user about the likelihood of events; for example, using preset questions on cards relating to the likelihood of events, role-playing in pairs responding as a virtual assistant, giving reasons for their response
How to use this unit
Read the topic guide, use the teacher slide for instruction, then complete the Worksheet, Practice and Test. These three activities use the same eight-question unit bank.
Teacher resource
AC9M3P01 teacher slide
Use this one-page PDF to introduce the key idea, vocabulary and teaching sequence before students begin the activities.
Open teacher slide (PDF)Common mistakes to watch for
- Rushing to a rule before checking the concrete model, drawing or number sentence.
- Using the correct answer once but not being able to explain why it works.
- Mixing up similar vocabulary such as more/less, before/after, longer/shorter or equal groups/sharing.
International curriculum mapping
This table gives closest-topic mapping for search and planning. The Australian Curriculum code is exact; overseas entries are broad equivalents because each jurisdiction structures outcomes differently.
| Region | Curriculum | Closest mapping |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Australian Curriculum v9.0 | AC9M3P01 — identify practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes and events as ‘likely’ or ‘unlikely’ and identify some events as ‘certain’ or ‘impossible’ explaining reasoning |
| Victoria | Victorian Curriculum F-10 | Year 3 Maths: closest match in Probability. Use this page as a VIC-aligned practice and worksheet reference. |
| NSW | NSW Curriculum | Stage 2 Maths: closest content focus for Practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes... and related outcomes. |
| United States | Common Core / NGSS | Grade 3 Common Core Mathematics/ELA closest topic match for Practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes.... |
| England / UK | National Curriculum | Key Stage 2 / Year 3: closest programme-of-study match for Practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes.... |
| Canada | Provincial and territory curricula | Grade 3 closest topic match. Canada varies by province, so use this as a broad Ontario/BC-style learning outcome reference. |
| New Zealand | New Zealand Curriculum | Level 2 Maths: closest achievement-objective topic for Practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes.... |
| India | NCERT / CBSE | Class 3 closest NCERT/CBSE topic match for Practical activities and everyday events involving chance; describe possible outcomes.... |