Teach Engineering
The Challenge Question
A research position becomes a modeling job. The introductory lesson in a series of nine presents the challenge of analyzing a set of bivariate data. The class brainstorms what the data may represent. Pupils must decide what is needed to...
Virginia Department of Education
Box-and-Whisker Plots
The teacher demonstrates how to use a graphing calculator to create box-and-whisker plots and identify critical points. Small groups then create their own plots and analyze them and finish by comparing different sets of data using box...
College Board
Civic Knowledge and Action in AP U.S. Government and Politics
Vote, it's your civic duty! The high school lesson focuses on voter turnout and civic participation with a series of activities. Young scholars analyze data to discover voter turnout trends, complete worksheets, and participate in group...
EngageNY
Connecting Graphical Representations and Numerical Summaries
Which graph belongs to which summary statistics? Class members build upon their knowledge of data displays and numerical summaries to connect the two. Pupils make connections between different graphical displays of the same data in...
Beyond Benign
The Big Melt: Arctic Ice Caps
Are the Arctic ice caps really melting out of existence? Junior climatologists examine the statistics of ice decline through four math-based lessons. Each activity incorporates data, climate information, and environmental impact into an...
EngageNY
Nonlinear Models in a Data Context
How well does your garden grow? Model the growth of dahlias with nonlinear functions. In the lesson, scholars build on their understanding of mathematical models with nonlinear models. They look at dahlias growing in compost and...
NOAA
Climographs
In the second instructional activity of a five-part series, young climatologists use provided temperature and precipitation data to create climographs of three different cities. They then analyze these climographs to develop a...
University of Colorado
Using Spectral Data to Explore Saturn and Titan
Saturn's rings are made of dust, ice, and solid chunks of material. Individuals use spectrographs in this final installment of 22 lessons to determine the atmospheric elements. They analyze spectrums from Titan's atmosphere and...
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....
Illustrative Mathematics
Modeling London's Population
Looking at London's population from 1801–1961 in 20 year increments, high school mathematicians determine if the data can be modeled by a given logistic growth equation. They explain their thinking and determine the values of each...
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...
Statistics Education Web
The Case of the Careless Zookeeper
Herbivores and carnivores just don't get along. Using a box of animal crackers, classes collect data about the injury status of herbivores and carnivores in the box. They complete the process of chi-square testing on the data from...
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...
Learner
Solid Shapes
A collection of two lessons, kindergartners will identify two-dimensional shapes in solid shapes. They will develop basic knowledge of the components that make up a sphere, rectangular prism, pyramid, cylinder, cone, and cube. Young...
Teach Engineering
Exploring Acceleration with an Android
Small groups use rubber bands to accelerate an Android device along a track of books. They collect the acceleration data and analyze it in order to determine the device's velocity.
American Statistical Association
Scatter It! (Using Census Results to Help Predict Melissa’s Height)
Pupils use the provided census data to guess the future height of a child. They organize and plot the data, solve for the line of best fit, and determine the likely height and range for a specific age.
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
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...
Illustrative Mathematics
Latitude
The greater the latitude, the less of the Earth is north. Scholars graph the relationship between the latitude and the percentage of the Earth that is north of the latitude. Using the graph and the table, class members interpret values...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Weather or Not
What is the difference between weather and climate? This is the focus question of a lesson plan that takes a deeper look at how weather data helps determine climate in a region. Using weather and climate cards, students decide...
Anti-Defamation League
Pink Collar Jobs: Gender Segregation and Pay Inequality in the Workplace
Cartoons showing women in the workplace spark a discussion about being a business executive and claiming the corporate ladder. Small groups analyze data and create graphs that display essential information from the handouts. The class...
EngageNY
Analyzing Residuals (Part 2)
Learn about patterns in residual plots with an informative math lesson. Two examples make connections between the appearance of a residual plot and whether a linear model is the best model apparent. The problem set and exit ticket...
EngageNY
Graphs of Exponential Functions
What does an exponential pattern look like in real life? After viewing a video of the population growth of bacteria, learners use the real-life scenario to collect data and graph the result. Their conclusion should be a new type of...
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: 8th Grade Math – Claim 4
A math model is a good model. A slide show presents 10 sample items on modeling and data analysis. Items from Smarter Balanced illustrate different ways that Claim 4 may be assessed on the 8th grade math assessment. The presentation is...