Data and Statistics
90 Minutes | 3rd – 8th Grades
The Data and Statistics activity will take the students through developing questions, answering surveys, and analyzing the data and results from the class sample. Through simple and straightforward questions, students will begin to see how data and variables are connected.
The activity starts with a general survey: number of letters in your first name, number of and kinds of pets, number of minutes to get to school and the mode of transport, students’ height and arm span, shoe size, and walking speed. After the surveys are collected and entered into the spreadsheet, the students will see the graphical representations of their data and can begin to discuss what variables seem to be directly or indirectly effecting the results. For example, is your height relative to your arm span. Or does the mode of travel to school imply shorter or longer travel times.
Students will first be introduced (or reminded of) the MEAN, MEDIAN, and MODE terms. They will use the number of letters in their names to compare these values, and see how the values can be changed by adding or removing data.
We will then compare/contrast the time to get to school vs mode of transportation, and the arm span vs height values to see how we can take multiple data sets and compare to find relationships.
The next step involves making predictions on a set of data, in this case the simple example of rolling a dice. We will sum the class’ data and analyze again the mean, median, and mode values. We will also introduce probabilities, and how they can be used to help analyze and predict data sets.
The activity can then by extended into one of the following concentrations:
– Renewable Energy
– Health and Welfare
– Census Data
Handouts:
Rocks, Paper, Scissors Worksheet
Cards and Dice Worksheet
