Math Investigations Wednesday

Math Investigations - Dana Brown

How do we use data - 

• Developmental data for children ex. 75 percentile
• sports
• testing
• weather
• running
• voting/election results
• tracking crime statistics

How many years have you been teaching?
It is important to define the question...so you gather the correct data.
Redefined...How long have you been employed by a school district?
Keep students focused on the data...on the purpose of the data...There's 5 X's on 10. No there are 5 people who have taught for 10 years.

Using fractions is a good way to present the data to students:
1/3 of our group has taught 5 years or less
about 1/2 of the group has taught between 10 and 20 years
about 1/2 of the group has taught 12 years or less

median: middle value of the data when the data is put in order
Visual way to show the median: line 11 people up and point out the center. The median can be in the center of two points
1/2 the teachers have taught 16yrs or less and 1/2 the teachers have taught 16 years or more
 Range: the difference between the highest value and the lowest value in a set of data.
Mode: the value that occurs most often in a set of data
Outlier: a piece of value that has an unusual value, much lower or much higher
Median: the middle value of the data when all the data are put in order



What occupation would you choose if you weren't a teacher?