This problem could be used as an introductory lesson to introduce group comparisons and to engage students in a question they may find amusing and interesting. More generally, the idea of the lesson could be used as a template for a project where students develop a questionnaire, sample students at their school and report on their findings.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This task examines, from a mathematical and statistical point of view, how scientists measure the age of organic materials by measuring the ratio of Carbon 14 to Carbon 12. The focus here is on the statistical nature of such dating. This task addresses a very important issue about precision in reporting and understanding statements in a realistic scientific context.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The purpose of this task is to allow students to demonstrate an ability to construct boxplots and to use boxplots as the basis for comparing distributions. The solution should directly compare the center, spread, and shape of the two distributions and comment on the high outlier in the northbound data set.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
In this task students design a plan to conduct a random sample of the students in their school to estimate the proportion of students who think their parents are strict.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The following are some common methods of data collection in statistical studies that involve people.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The purpose of this task is to assess (1) ability to distinguish between an observational study and an experiment and (2) understanding of the role of raandom assingment to experimental groups in an experiment.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This task addresses many standards regarding the description and analysis of bivariate quantitative data, including regression and correlation. Students should recognize that the pattern shown is one of a strong, positive, linear association, and thus a correlation coefficient value near +1 is plausible. Students should also be able to interpret the slope of the least-squares line as an estimated increase in y per unit change in x (and thus for a 3 unit increase in x, students should expect an estimated increase in y that equals 3 times the model's slope value).
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a simple task addressing the distinction between correlation and causation. Students are given information indicating a correlation between two variables, and are asked to reason out whether or not a causation can be inferred. The task would be well-suited either as an introduction to this distinction, or as an assessment item.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The purpose of this task is to assess understanding of how study design dictates whether a conclusion of causation is warranted. This study was observational and not an experiment, which means that it is not possible to reach a cause-and-effect conclusion.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The goal of this task is twofold. For part (a) since we are not given how large each of the groups in the table are, the best we can do is to apply reasoning about ratios (in the form of percents) to give a range of possible answers. For part (b), the goal is to recognize a misuse of statistical reasoning.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Jane wants to sell her Subaru Forester, but doesn’t know what the listing price should be. She checks on craigslist.com and finds 22 Subarus listed. Th...
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: The scatterplot below shows the finishing times for the Olympic gold medalist in the men's 100-meter dash for many previous Olympic games. The least sq...
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important aspects of the task and its potential use.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important aspects of the task and its potential use.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important aspects of the task and its potential use.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important aspects of the task and its potential use.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Sometimes hotels, malls, banks, and other businesses will present a display of a large, clear container holding a large number of items and ask custome...
Material Type: Activity/Lab
The basic idea of this task is for students to demonstrate that they know what it means for two variables to be associated.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important aspects of the task and its potential use.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is a task from the Illustrative Mathematics website that is one part of a complete illustration of the standard to which it is aligned. Each task has at least one solution and some commentary that addresses important asects of the task and its potential use. Here are the first few lines of the commentary for this task: Jerry forgot to plug in his laptop before he went to bed. He wants to take the laptop to his friend's house with a full battery. The pictures below sho...
Material Type: Activity/Lab
