California Education Partners
Seeing Eye to Eye
A performance task challenges scholars to read an informational text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins with an independent reading of Seeing Eye to Eye by Leslie Hall. A second reading follows with the...
California Education Partners
Telescopes
An assessment challenges scholars to read an informative text then respond with an explanatory essay. The exam begins as participants read a text passage twice then take notes, making sure to jot down key details. Following the...
California Education Partners
We Are The Ship
An assessment sheds light on scholars' ability to read, gather evidence, and draft an original written composition. Learners read an informative text twice before taking notes and discussing their thoughts and textual evidence with a...
American Statistical Association
Don't Spill the Beans!
Become a bean counter. Pupils use a fun activity to design and execute an experiment to determine whether they can grab more beans with their dominant hand or non-dominant hand. They use the class data to create scatter plots and then...
American Statistical Association
How Long is 30 Seconds?
Is time on your side? Pupils come up with an experiment to test whether their classmates can guess how long it takes for 30 seconds to elapse. They divide the class data into two groups, create box-and-whisker plots, and analyze the...
American Statistical Association
How Tall and How Many?
Is there a relationship between height and the number of siblings? Classmates collect data on their heights and numbers of brothers and sisters. They apply statistical methods to determine if such a relationship exists.
American Statistical Association
An A-MAZE-ING Comparison
Teach your class how to use descriptive statistics through a hands-on data collection activity. Pupils collect their own data, calculate test statistics, and interpret the results in context. They compare male and female results, looking...
Statistics Education Web
When 95% Accurate Isn’t
Investigate the effect of false positives on probability calculation with an activity that asks scholars to collect simulated data generated by a calculator. To finish, participants analyze the probability of certain outcomes which lead...
Statistics Education Web
Consuming Cola
Caffeine affects your heart rate — or does it? Learners study experimental design while conducting their own experiment. They collect heart rate data after drinking a caffeinated beverage, create a box plot, and draw conclusions....
California Education Partners
Letter From Birmingham Jail
To demonstrate their ability to comprehend complex text, ninth graders are asked to craft an essay in which they use evidence drawn from "Letter From Birmingham Jail" to analyze how Martin Luther King, Jr. uses rhetorical devices...
American Statistical Association
Scatter It! (Predict Billy’s Height)
How do doctors predict a child's future height? Scholars use one case study to determine the height of a child two years into the future. They graph the given data, determine the line of best fit, and use that to estimate the height in...
American Statistical Association
Chocolicious
To understand how biased data is misleading, learners analyze survey data and graphical representations. They use that information to design their own plans to collect information on consumer thoughts about Chocolicious cereal.
American Statistical Association
Colors Challenge!
Does writing the name of a color in a different colored ink affect one's ability to read it? Scholars design an experiment to answer this question. They collect the data, analyze the statistics, and draw a conclusion based on...
Statistics Education Web
Sampling in Archaeology
Compare different random sampling types using an archaeological setting. Scholars collect data from an archaeological plot using simple random samples, stratified random samples, systematic random samples, and cluster random samples....
Statistics Education Web
How High Can You Jump?
How high can your pupils jump? Learners design an experiment to answer this question. After collecting the data, they create box plots and scatter plots to analyze the data. To finish the lesson, they use the data to draw conclusions.
Statistics Education Web
Using Dice to Introduce Sampling Distributions
Investigate the meaning of a sample proportion using this hands-on activity. Scholars collect data and realize that the larger the sample size the more closely the data resembles a normal distribution. They compare the sample proportion...
Statistics Education Web
Walk the Line
How confident are you? Explore the meaning of a confidence interval using class collected data. Learners analyze data and follow the steps to determine a 95 percent confidence interval. They then interpret the meaning of the confidence...
Statistics Education Web
Types of Average Sampling: "Household Words" to Dwell On
Show your classes how different means can represent the same data. Individuals collect household size data and calculate the mean. Pupils learn how handling of the data influences the value of the mean.
Statistics Education Web
Saga of Survival (Using Data about Donner Party to Illustrate Descriptive Statistics)
What did gender have to do with the survival rates of the Donner Party? Using comparative box plots, classes compare the ages of the survivors and nonsurvivors. Using the same method, individuals make conclusions about the...
American Statistical Association
Happy Birthday to . . . Two?
How many people do you need in a room before two likely share the same birthday? Scholars consider this puzzle by analyzing a set of data. They ponder how to divide the data and determine the proper size of a group for this event to...
University of California
The Cold War (America)
The Cold War—with its roots in World War II—impacts the world today. Using an extensive curriculum, scholars consider its impact through primary sources, including speeches and propaganda, as well as other skills-enhancing activities. An...
For the Teachers
Sequence Plot Chart
Your kids can identify the plot sequence of a short story, but what about an informational article? Have them examine the chronological order of events in informational texts with a lesson on the sequence of events.
American Statistical Association
You and Michael
Investigate the relationship between height and arm span. Young statisticians measure the heights and arm spans of each class member and create a scatter plot using the data. They draw a line of best fit and use its slope to explain the...
Statistics Education Web
10,000 Steps?
Conduct an experiment to determine the accuracy of pedometers versus pedometer apps. Class members collect data from each device, analyze the data using a hypothesis test, and determine if there is a significant difference...