Content Area: Math

 

Index: 4.4A Grade 8 CPI 2

 

Standard: 4.4 - Data Analysis, Probability, and Discrete Mathematics

 

Strand: A - Data Analysis

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 2 - The student will make inferences and formulate and evaluate arguments based on displays and analysis of data.

 

Grade: 8

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        Students are presented with data from The World Almanac showing the number of cigarettes smoked per year per adult and the rate of coronary heart disease in 21 countries. They produce a scatterplot and recognize a relatively high correlation between the two factors. They write an essay on the possible causes of this relationship and their interpretation of it.

 

·        Students are asked to predict how many drops of water will fit on a penny. They write their prediction on a post it note along with an explanation of their reasoning. The predictions are collected and displayed on bar graphs or stem and leaf plots. Students perform the experiment and record their results on another post it note. They compare their hypotheses with the conclusions. A science lesson on surface tension can easily be integrated with this lesson.

 

·        Students are studying their community's recycling efforts in an integrated unit. In getting ready for discussion in this area, the mathematics teachers ask the students to predict how many pounds of junk mail comes in to their community in a month. The students collect all junk mail sent to their house over the course of a month. They weigh the junk mail weekly and record the results. At the end of the month, all the students bring in their data. The class determines the mean, median, and mode for the collected data, decides which of these measures would be the best to use, and agrees on a method to use to estimate the amount of junk mail for the entire community.