Grade Level: Middle School



Technology Rich Lesson Plan by Michelle Arakaki

Grade Level: Middle School

Content Area: Mathematics

Title of Unit: Measures of Central Tendency

Learning Goal: Confusion often occurs as students begin to explore the measurement concept of central tendency. Students are challenged, as they cannot easily distinguish what the mean, median, mode and range are. To help students identify these terms more readily, it is important for students to conduct and complete hands on activities.

Students will be able to….

1. Calculate the measures of central tendency provided a collection of data.

2. Distinguish what the mean, median, mode and range of any set of data.

3. Utilize a TI83 calculator to find the measure of central tendency.

4. Use the internet to conduct research and find specific data for further practice.

Technology Standards:

Standard 3- Research and Information Fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students;

a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.

b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethnically use information from a variety of sources and media.

c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

d. process data and report results.

Standard 6- Technology Operations and Concepts

Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students:

a. understand and use technology systems.

b. select and use applications effectively and productively.

c. troubleshoot systems and applications.

d. transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.

Technologies Integrated:

• Teacher makes use of the overhead to conduct a prior knowledge tests on the measures of central tendency.

• The teacher then creates a PowerPoint presentation which poses questions, and defines what the mean, median, mode, and range are and how to calculate the measures of central tendency.

• The teacher creates a database project which gives reference to professional athletes. The statistics of the selected athletes are also listed. Students then use the data to calculate the mean, median, mode, and range of the provided set.

• Students use the internet to collect data on any topic.

• Students then type their data into Excel.

• Students receive a TI83 calculator and manipulate the calculator to calculate the measures of central tendency.

Resources:



Unit Outline:

1st day- Class period 60 minutes

Give students 50 minutes to complete their unit test. After the 50 minutes are complete, test students’ prior knowledge, by granting them a set of data which is posted on the overhead. Make an overhead which contains the collection of data, which also has the directions printed informing students that they need to calculate the mean, median, mode and range of the provided data. Many of the students may understand this idea of range, as they demonstrate on paper taking the smallest number and subtracting it from the biggest number in the set of collected data.

The teacher should then carefully observe the prior knowledge of the students and how they maybe holding misconceptions of the measures of central tendency. Analyzing the prior knowledge of the students will then help prepare the teacher for the unit to come.

2nd day- Class period 60 minutes

As the teacher finds what maybe troubling the students, the teacher can then create a PowerPoint presentation which will then be used to introduce the measures of central tendency more formally. The teacher may realize that students have mastered the idea of range, with this knowledge the instructor may not set aside as much time to discuss this idea of range. The PowerPoint will then open up a classroom discussion. The slides will first pose questions which ask the students to define and defend their definitions of mean, median, mode, and range to their peers. After students have thought about these various terms, the following slide will then provide the correct definition of the mean, median, mode, and range.

The class discussion which should take approximately 25 minutes will leave the teacher with 35 more minutes. After all the definitions have been shown, students will then see slides on how to properly calculate each measure of central tendency. Using this knowledge, students will then go to a computer and practice calculating the measures by going on the database, where a project has already been set up. With the database, students will looking at the lay out which lists the statistics of professional athletes. Viewing layout #2 will display the birthdays from oldest to youngest. Layout #3 will list the height from tallest to shortest. And the last and final layout, layout #4 will list the weight from heaviest to lightest. Using these statistics the students will then calculate by hand the mean, median, mode, and range.

3rd day- Class period 60 minutes

As students enter the classroom, have them return to the computer. Students will then go on the internet and find statistics on anything. Allow students to have fun with this activity and see what interests them. Observe the sites that students view, as this may help enhance more engaging lessons in the future.

Instruct students to put the data they are collecting into a spreadsheet on Excel. As students do this, inform them that they need to make use of a bigger font so when it is used on a dot camera, the rest of the class will then be able to identify what type of data they collected, and can also clearly see the various figures they found. Again, use this day for students to conduct further practice of the lesson covered in the previous day. Students will then look at their peers data and find the mean, median, mode and range of each set of data used.

4th day- Class period 60 minutes

Pass out TI83 calculators to each student. Tell the students to turn on the calculator. Once the calculator is on, have the students hit the STAT button, once they hit this button, tell them to select EDIT, then click on LIST, and enter the data in L1.

When all the data is entered, use the calculator to calculate the mean. Have the student hit the 2ND and MODE button to return to the main screen. Then click on the 2ND button and press STAT click the arrow twice to select the mean. Repeat this process to find the median. Inform students that they should be able to calculate the range with the provided options. They need to click on the min and max and subtract the two numbers to find the range.

The mode is a little challenging. The calculator doesn’t provide an option to click to. Students have to hit the 2ND MODE button to return to the main screen, and then they need to hit the 2ND STAT button. But then the arrow needs to be pressed only once so the bolded category is OPS. Then they need to click SortA. From there, the student will be referred back to the main menu, with SortA(, the student then needs to then click 2ND and then the number 1 and close the parentheses. Once the student clicks ENTER, the screen should then say DONE. The student can repeat the procedure by clicking on 2ND STAT and click the arrow twice to select the mode. Have student calculate the data they found from the previous class. Tell them to check the mean, median, mode and range they calculated yesterday to the new calculation they made with the TI83. Encourage students to exchange their data with their peers and have them continue to calculate the measures of central tendency with the new data.

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