Using camels to teach probability and expected value

Abstract

There is much debate about the place of probability in an introductory statistics course. While students may or may not use probability distributions in their post-collegiate lives, they will likely be faced with day-to-day decisions that require a probabilistic assessment of risk and reward. This paper describes an innovative way to teach students in an introductory statistics course how to reason about probability and expected value through the board game Camel Up. The in-class activities described here can be scaled to fit the needs and abilities of the students in a wide range of introductory statistics courses at a variety of levels.