Date: Week 3/Friday
Period/Class Title: Advanced Statistics and Probability
Name: Annie Mehalchick
# of students: 30
OBJECTIVE:
Students use group work in order to evaluate statistical data in newspapers.
MATERIALS:
Notes, Journals, pencils and paper
Computers with online access, printers
NOTES:
Remember to move around the classroom as students work on activity. Encourage students to ask questions and be involved in the discovery process. Make sure students understand vocabulary from yesterday (confidence intervals, margin of error and point estimates). Be sure that students are on task.
STEPS:
ANITICIPATORY SET (5 minutes): Ask students how they view data in newspapers or other news sources online or on television. Do they trust the statistical data? Why or why not?
1. Have students write their responses and other ideas mentioned in the beginning in their journals. (5 minutes)
2. Students are instructed to use one of the following websites (to be accessed through the Hip Hop Circuit Website: http://online.sfsu.edu/~jcooks/hiphopcircuit/frontup.html): www.usatoday.com, http://sfgate.com, www.cnn.com, http://www.msnbc.com,
or another news-related website to be approved by teacher. They are to find an example of statistical data such as a chart, graph or data incorporated into an article. (15 minutes)
3. Students spend the rest of the period reading the article and finding evidence of its validity. They should be aware of confidence intervals, margin of
error, and factors that might not be accounted for in the data that would make it inaccurate.
4. Students will write an evaluation of the article and its statistical data, if not done in class, to be completed for homework. (35 minutes)
FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY:
For homework, students are required to finish their evaluation. These evaluations of the student's article will be presented on Monday's class so they need to write a valid argument as to why they defend or invalidate the data. The journal entry is to discuss today's class. What did you learn? What were its strengths and weaknesses?
ASSESSMENT:
Assessment will take place during discussion and class work, as I move around the room in order to help those who need it. Contributions will be rewarded as well as questions about the material. The evaluation will be graded based on the amount of analysis present. Journals are reviewed once a week and contribute to the student's grade, depending on the level of engagement the student has or is trying to make with the material.
LITERACY ASPECT:
Students will read statistical data as well as a newsarticle, analyze it using statistical language, and write an evaluation of their discovery. They will also write in their journals.
REFLECTION/RESPONSE:
I am concerned with those students who need to review confidence intervals and margin of error.
Notes for following lesson: If students are struggling with concepts of confidence intervals, do a"class example" in the beginning of the next period to
demonstrate how confident we are on a polled topic. Discuss sample size and relevance to answers briefly (leads to the next class).