Deer Lakes Math Improvement
STEW
One of the goals of the American Statistical Association is to improve statistics education at all levels. Through the STatistics Education Web (STEW), the ASA is reaching out to K-12 mathematics and science teachers who teach statistics concepts in their classrooms. STEW is an online resource for peer-reviewed lesson plans for K-12 teachers. The web site is maintained by the ASA and accessible to K-12 teachers throughout the world.
Statistics and probability concepts are included in K-12 curriculum standards, in particular the Common Core State Standards, and on state and national exams; however, few K-12 teachers have formal training or applied experience with statistical concepts. K-12 teachers need a place where they can find peer-reviewed teaching materials available in a standard format. Teachers also can benefit from guidance toward activities that are appropriate for their students' maturity levels and from the ability to select relevant, useful, and meaningful applications. The ASA is the logical entity to host a resource to support teachers in their efforts to master the content and incorporate it into their classrooms.
STEW lesson plans identify both the statistical concepts being developed and the age range appropriate for its use. The statistical concepts follow the recommendations of the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) Report: A Pre-K-12 Curriculum Framework, Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, and NCTM Principles and Standards for School Mathematics. The web site resource is organized around the four elements in the GAISE guidelines: formulate a statistical question, design and implement a plan to collect data, analyze the data by measures and graphs, and interpret the data in the context of the original question. Teachers can navigate the site by grade level and statistical topic.
Lesson Plans
Grades K - 5
Candy Judging
Statistical Topics: bar graph
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
Speedster
Statistical Topics: median; range; line plot; unit conversions
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
Spinners at the School Carnival (Equal Sections)
Statistical Topics: simulation; bar graph; frequency table
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
Spinners at the School Carnival (Unequal Sections)
Statistical Topics: simulation; bar graph; frequency table
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
The Gumball Machine
Statistical Topics: sample; sampling variation; experimental probability
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
The Taste of Yellow
Statistical Topics: pie chart
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
Grades 6 - 8
Armspans
Statistical Topics: comparing two distributions; descriptive statistics; comparative boxplots
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Bear Hugs
Statistical Topics: comparing two distributions; descriptive statistics; boxplots; comparative boxplots; scatterplots
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Bubble Trouble!
Statistical Topics: comparing distributions; descriptive statistics; comparative boxplots
GAISE Level B
PDF Format
Don't Spill the Beans!
Statistical Topics: paired data; descriptive statistics; comparative boxplots; boxplots
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Exploring Geometric Probabilities with Buffon's Coin Problem
Statistical Topics: geometric probability; empirical probability; theoretical probability; simulation
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Happy Birthday to ... Two?
Statistical Topics: theoretical probability; subjective probability; experimental probability; simulation
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
Happy Birthday to Two Data Set
How Long is 30 Seconds?
Statistical Topics: comparing two distributions; descriptive statistics; boxplots; comparative boxplots
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
How Random is the iPod's Shuffle?
Statistical Topics: randomly generated data; probability
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
How Tall and How Many?
Statistical Topics: descriptive statistics; scatterplot
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Scatter It! (Predict Billy's Height)
Statistical Topics: scatterplot; line of best fit
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
Scatter It! (Using Census Results to Help Predict Melissa's Height)
Statistical Topics: scatterplot; line of best fit
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
Step Into Statistics
Statistical Topics: comparing two distributions; descriptive statistics; boxplots; comparative boxplots
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Tell It Like It Is!
Statistical Topics: writing a statistical conclusion
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
What Fits?
Statistical Topics: scatterplot; line of best fit
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
What is the Probability of "Pigging Out"?
Statistical Topics: theoretical probability; subjective probability; experimental probability; simulation; probability area model
GAISE Level A
PDF Format | Word Format
You and Michael
Statistical Topics: scatterplot; line of best fit
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Grades 9 - 12
10,000 Steps?
Statistical Topics: paired (matched) samples; paired t-test; assessing normality
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
A Sweet Task
Statistical Topics: frequency table; two-way frequency table; probability; joint probability; marginal probability; conditional probability
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
An A-MAZE-ING Comparison
Statistical Topics: hypothesis testing (two-sample t test)
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
Are Female Hurricanes Deadlier than Male Hurricanes?
Statistical Topics: mean; standard deviation; median; outlier; five-number-summary; comparative boxplots; comparing distributions
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format | Data File
Chocolicious
Statistical Topics: population; sample; survey; bias
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format | PowerPoint Format
Consuming Cola
Statistical Topics: extraneous variable; experiment; independent samples; matched (paired) samples
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Colors Challenge!
Statistical Topics: comparing two distributions; descriptive statistics; comparative boxplots
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Did I Trap The Median?
Statistical Topics: five-number summary; boxplot; confidence interval for median; confidence level; simulation
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Double Stuffed?
Statistical Topics: hypothesis testing (two-sample t test)
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
First Day Statistics Activity - Grouping Qualitative Data
Statistical Topics: grouping qualitative data; frequency table
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
How High Can You Jump?
Statistical Topics: comparing two distributions; descriptive statistics; comparative boxplots; scatterplot
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
How Wet is the Earth?
Statistical Topics: sample; sampling variability; sampling distribution of a sample proportion; confidence interval for a proportion; interpretation of confidence level
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format | Resources
I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me
Statistical Topics: confidence interval for a proportion; hypothesis test on a proportion; two-way frequency table; chi-square test; binomial distribution; binomial test
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
It Creeps. It Crawls. Watch Out For The Blob!
Statistical Topics: simple random sample; sampling variability; confidence interval for a mean; interpretation of confidence level
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
It's Elemental! Sampling from the Periodic Table
Statistical Topics: simple random sample; stratified random sample; systematic random sample; cluster random sample; simulation
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
NFL Quarterback Salaries
Statistical Topics: scatterplot; simple linear regression; coefficient of correlation; coefficient of determination
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
Activity Sheet 1 Data, Activity Sheet 2 Data, Activity Sheet 3 Data
Now You SeeIt, Now You Don't: Using SeeIt to Compare Stacked Dotplots to Boxplots
Statistical Topics: dotplot; boxplot; comparing distributions
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Population Parameters with M&M's®
Statistical Topics: population proportion; sampling distribution of a sample proportion
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Saga of Survival (Using Data about the Donner Party to Illustrate Descriptive Statistics)
Statistical Topics: comparing distributions; comparative boxplots; descriptive statistics; two-way frequency table; conditional distribution
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Saga of Survival Data Set
Sampling in Archaeology
Statistical Topics: simple random sample; stratified random sample; systematic random sample; cluster random sample; simulation
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
Text Messaging is Time Consuming! What Gives?
Statistical Topics: simple linear regression; correlation; slope; intercept; sampling distribution of slope; sampling distribution of intercept; sampling distribution of correlation coefficient
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
The Case of the Careless Zookeeper
Statistical Topics: two-way frequency table; conditional distribution; chi-square test
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
The United States of Obesity
Statistical Topics: choropleth map; scatterplot; simple linear regression; correlation; residual; outlier; prediction; extrapolation
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
Types of Average and Sampling: "Household Words" to Dwell On
Statistical Topics: average, sampling, sampling bias
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
Using Dice to Introduce Sampling Distributions
Statistical Topics: sampling distribution of a sample proportion; confidence interval for a proportion
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
Walk the Line
Statistical Topics: assessing normality; confidence interval for a mean
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
What Does the Normal Distribution Sound Like?
Statistical Topics: frequency distribution; histogram; smoothed curve; normal distribution; rate of change
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
What Percent of the Continental US is Within One Mile of a Road?
Statistical Topics: sample; sampling variability; confidence interval for a proportion; interpretation of confidence level
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format | Resources
When 95% Accurate Isn't
Statistical Topics: conditional probability; Bayes' Theorem; simulation; empirical probability
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format | ZIP (Compressed Archive)
Who Sends the Most Text Messages?
Statistical Topics: sampling distribution of a sample mean
GAISE Level C
PDF Format | Word Format
Example Distribution Cards for Sally, Jamal, Ivy and Tom
You Will Soon Analyze Categorical Data (Classifying Fortune Cookie Fortunes)
Statistical Topics: two-way frequency table; joint relative frequency; marginal relative frequency; conditional relative frequency; chi-square test of homogeneity
GAISE Level B
PDF Format | Word Format
Submit Your Lesson Plans to STEW
Please consider submitting several of your favorite lesson plans to STEW. We hope also that you will encourage your colleagues to submit material to STEW. STEW needs your assistance and participation in order to be a viable resource for teachers who teach statistics and probability.
Submitted lesson plans will need to follow the standard STEW template.
Example STEW Lesson Plans
STEW Level A Exemplar
PDF Format | Word Format
STEW Level B Exemplar
PDF Format | Word Format
STEW Level C Exemplar
PDF Format | Word Format
To submit lesson plans for publication consideration, send them to steweditor@amstat.org.
