Quick Take on ... Give Us Our Daily Math
Middle schoolers may not easily see the connection between data analysis
problems invented for the classroom and math problems encountered in their
daily lives. You will spark their interest in data analysis by showing them its
value in finding solutions to real problems in many settings—from buying a
soda to taking after—school jobs to understanding weather reports. When you
introduce data analysis to middle school students, you are exposing them to
applications that correlate with the NCTM Principles and Standards:
creating and reading graphs, calculating statistics, and, above all, solving
real-world problems.
Working Hours: How Much Time Do Teens Spend on the Job?
http://www.figurethis.org/challenges/c48/challenge.htm
This activity challenges students to interpret a bar graph to determine the
average number of hours teenagers work per week. A hint suggests that students
assume that 100 students participated in the survey. Interesting statistics
about the hourly wages and annual salaries of various occupations are given.
Soda: Does It Make a Difference Where You Shop?
http://www.figurethis.org/challenges/c70/challenge.htm
In this online activity, your students compare soda prices from two stores using
data displayed on a scatterplot graph. Students are shown how the line y = x
can be used to analyze the data and draw a conclusion. Further problems
involving scatterplots compare car mileage and the performance of NBA players.
The Global Sun Temperature Project
http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/tempproj3/en/index.shtml
This web site allows students from around the world to work together to
determine how average daily temperatures and hours of sunlight change with
distance from the equator. Students can participate in the project each spring,
April-June. You will find project information, lesson plans, and implementation
assistance.
New York Times Daily Lesson Plan: Mathematics
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/mathematics.html
These lesson ideas from the New York Times offer suggestions for ways
to draw on real-world issues and statistics to develop lessons in mathematics.
Each lesson idea includes a description of the activities along with handouts
and questions for discussion. Links to related Times articles provide
an interactive aspect to each of the lesson entries.
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Copyright
September 2004-2008 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work
supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any
opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the National Science Foundation.
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This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
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