Analyzing and making sense of statistics in newspapers

A statistics project for grades 9-12 in which students analyze and interpret statistics in a newspaper is presented. The first part of the project involves students examining the depiction of statistics in the San Jose Mercury News for several months and pinpointing recurring topics or themes in the content of the articles presenting the statistics. In the second part, students make inferences from the statistics and address the ramifications of the information. The use of real-world statistics in the project allows teachers to show students that they are willing to help them solve complicated and disturbing issues.