Measures of Central Tendency
Overview
This lesson will be a fun way for students to be create and use the collected data to find the measures of central tendency.
Goal for today:
This lesson will be a fun way to collect data, that will then be used to find the measures of central tendency.
Calculating the measures of central tendency using using paper airplanes.
What are measures of central tendency?
What is the mean? How do I find it?
Data set 1: 9, 3, 5, 7, 6
Find the mean: First add the numbers. 9+3+5+7+6=30
Then divide the sum by the number of numbers in the set. 30/5=6
The mean is 6.
What is the median? How do I find it?
Data set 1: 9, 3, 5, 7, 6
Find the median: First, put the set of numbers in ascending order.
3 5 6 7 9
The 6 is in the middle of the set so the median of data set 1 is 6.
Data set 2: 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
Find the median: Put in ascending order
3 5 6 7 9 10
The 6 and 7 are in the middle of the set so the median is the average of those two numbers
6 + 7 = 13/2=6.5
The median is 6.5
What is the mode? How do I find it?
Data Set 3: 11, 15, 15, 18, 10, 9
The mode is the most common number in the data set.
The mode for this set is 15.
Data Set 4: 5, 2, 9, 4, 6, 6, 2
The modes for this set are 2 and 6.
They both occur twice.
Data Set 5: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9
No number happens more than any in the set so we say "No Mode".
What can we use to collect data?
Give the students this direction. Then sit back and see the students be creative and curious about their airplanes.
They will experiment to see what works and what doesn't.
I gave each student 3 pieces of typing paper and said they could throw their best 2.
Today you will research and experiment to make the best paper airplane that you can.
How far will it go?
I took students out into the hall a few at a time. I laid a tape measure down on the ground. After the student threw their plane, they had to come and see what the measurment was. Many students did not know how to read the tape measure, so it was a teachable moment. They each got 2 throws and took the longest distance.
When your planes are done, go out to the hall with the teacher to throw and measure.
You each will have a practice throw and then 2 more throws.
The longest throw will be the piece of data you will collect.
Write it down.
Looking at the data.
Depending on the number of students in the class, you can use the data of the whole class, or divide them into managable sized groups to calculate the measures of central tendency.
You could collect all the data in a spreadsheet and show a basic way to graph the data or the simple formulas you could use within the spread sheet. Or just make the information easier to see.
In your groups you should collect the length of airplane throws from everyone.
In your notebooks:
Calculate the mean for the group.
Calculate the median for the group.
Calculate the mode for the group.
Make an observation in your notebook about comparing your individual throw with the answers you got in the group. Is the same? higher? lower? Does that make sense? Why or why not?