High School Statistics and Probability Assignment
Overview
High school students calculate statistics of given data sets, presented as sets of numbers, box plots, or in a table. The assignment is weakly aligned to the standards because it tells students which statistics to calculate instead of allowing them to determine themselves which statistics are most appropriate. Although students are asked to determine if outliers are present, they do not use this information in the ways required by the standard. Additionally, the assignment doesn’t require students to make connections between two or more data sets.
Why is this assignment weakly aligned?
Focus
This assignment aligns more closely to sixth-grade standards (6.SP.B.4 and 6.SP.B.5) because of its focus on computing statistics (interquartile range, outliers, five-number summary) for given data sets. There are no options for students to “select the statistics appropriate to the shape of the distribution,” or to consider the standard deviation as a measure of variability, as required by the high school standards.
Coherence
High school students should be using data representations and statistics to compare and interpret differences in two or more data sets, but this assignment only asks students to work with one data set at a time (again, more closely aligned to sixth-grade expectations). Additionally, technology should be leveraged in high school to create displays and to calculate statistics to help students focus on interpretation and comparison, but this assignment does not involve technology.
Practice Standards
The assignment does not provide the opportunity to engage with any mathematical practice standards. Were it more closely aligned to the high school standards, students would have the opportunity to engage with Mathematical Practice Standard #5 (“Use appropriate tools strategically”) by using graphing calculators or computer software to create data displays and calculate statistics. Students could also have been given the chance to engage with Mathematical Practice Standard #7 (“Look for and make use of structure”) by selecting the “statistics appropriate to the shape of the data distribution.”