Session 4 - Interpreting Shape, Center and Spread

Directions:

1. Different types of spread: 
   1. There are 3 different types of spread that students need to know about, and then how they use them. 
   2. This is a helpful table to review (it is also at the bottom of page 4 of the Height Activity).

Focus: MP1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them and MP2: Reason abstractly and quantitatively

Directions:

1. Students will use arithmetic to find the range and the IQR (Interquartile range). As a group, they should discuss the meaning. 
2. The range describes the set of all possible answers (eg: Remember the snowfall activity?  The range of the snowfall is 63.6. This means that the snowfall varies from the highest snowfall to the lowest snowfall by 63.6 inches). 
3. The IQR describes the middle 50% of the data set (eg: the middle 50% of the snowfall data shows that the snowfall varies by 46.7 inches)
4. As students are working on the third part of the Height Activity, be sure that they can accurately find the range and the interquartile range. If students are unable to accurately find these measures, give them feedback or extra work until they can do so without assistance. If you like to keep track of what your students can accomplish, use Progress Monitoring Tool #3 to check if the students understand the concepts. 

1. The first part of this activity is to practice finding the measures of the center (mean, median, mode) and the 5-point summary (min, max, q1, q3).
2. The second part of this activity introduces the concept of the shape of the histogram, and choosing which measures of center and spread are best to be used with different shapes.
3. Gather students in pairs or groups to work together through this activity. They can also complete it on their own if they choose to. 
4. Make sure each student has a copy of the activity. They will not need any manipulatives but they will need a calculator and a writing utensil.

1. Go through each problem on the lesson worksheet and follow the directions. 
2. Students may need help in reading some of the language or figuring out the next steps.  
3. Monitor and guide the learning as students complete the lesson.
4. The activity should be reviewed at the end with these Test Data Activity & Answers

Progress Monitoring

Directions:

1. In the Test Data Worksheet, check the answers to Part 1 before moving on to Part 2.  
2. If the student does not have 80% accuracy (23 out of 28 correct answers) on Part 1, then you may want to go back and review before moving onto Part 2.