Session Date
Lesson Topic
Analyzing data spread
Lesson Outline
Continuing on from our work on box-and-whisker plots and quartiles, today we analyzed four data sets in terms of their median, mean, and mode. The data sets all had the same measures of center, even though the actual numbers in the sets differed. The lesson to take away here is that measures of center (such as the median or the mean) don't necessarily describe a data set fully, they only give a handle on what value the numbers cluster about. A way to understand better the spread of the data set is to evaluate the first and third quartile, and determine the interquartile range (essentially, the difference between the third and first quartiles) - a smaller number indicates less spread, while a larger number indicates more spread.
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
45
Lesson Comments
Today was a shakier day, Jared was a tad dismissive about the work we were doing in class, making simple arithmetic errors and then explaining them away because he was bored. However, when I ask him, therefore, to perform more complex tasks, he cannot, because he hasn't fully grasped the basics. All this while 'freaking out' (his words) that he thinks he hasn't learned enough this year to give him a good base in college (apparently, he has seen his friend's AP Statistics work, and this worried him). I reassured him by pointing out his friend is doing AP Stats. In any case, it's a bit difficult to fully learn if one doesn't do the work required (homework, say, or fully cooperate in class).
Session Hours
0.75
Hours Attended
0.75
Entry Status
Review Status
Student Name(s)
Subject
School