A unit of study that introduces collecting, representing, describing, and interpreting data is presented. Suitable for students in grades 4 through 6, it provides a foundation for further work in statistics and data analysis. The investigations may extend from one to four class sessions and are grouped into three parts: "Introduction to Data Analysis"; "Learning About Landmarks in the Data"; and "A Project in Data Analysis." An overview of the investigation, session activities, dialogue boxes, and teacher notes are included in each investigation. The major goals developed in each part of this guide are: (1) describing the shape of the data; (2) defining the way data will be collected; (3) summarizing what is typical of the data; (4) making quick sketches of the data; (5) inventing ways to compare two sets of data; (6) representing data first through sketches, then through a presentation graph or chart; (7) using the median as a landmark in the data; (8) understanding that the median is only one landmark in the data; and (9) experiencing all the stages of a data analysis investigation. Attached are 10 student sheets. (KR)
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education