Becoming
a Teacher of Statistics
Portfolio
by
Susan
Sexton
Probability and Statistics for Secondary
Teachers
STAT 6070
University of Georgia
Fall 2007
Instructor: Christine Franklin
Name: Lesson Plans and Worksheets for Probability and Statistics
URL: http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Div/Winchester/jhhs/math/lessons/stat.html
Purpose of Site:
ÒIn this site you will find worksheets, puzzles, tips, and other ideas for Statistics and Probability.Ó
Analysis of Site:
The website does, indeed, have a variety of links to statistical and probabilistic teaching tools. Some are traditional worksheets, some are games, others are data sources or statistical considerations such as letters to Ask Marilyn, and the list goes on. The site is simply a toolbox of possible activities to be used and/or altered by a teacher as necessary.
The fact that there is not a prescription for every link provided is one weakness of the site. Thus a worksheet appears to be just a worksheet until one dives into the material to figure out the best way to use the material for class. In this way, the website is not the most user friendly. The site is reminiscent of going through an experienced colleagueÕs drawer full of teaching materials and taking what appear to be neat activities but not really knowing how to use the material effectively or efficiently.
Overall, the site could prove to be useful for the creative or innovative secondary statistics teacher who can modify some or all of the activities to suit the statistical needs of his/her students. For example, there is a link called Super Bowls with data of each Super Bowl from 1983 until 2005. The link includes directions for the student to make a variety of visuals to display the data. These include a frequency distribution of the number of times each team has won, a line plot of the number of times each team has lost, a box plot for the total points scored in a Super Bowl, etc. During Super Bowl season, this would be a great activity to reinforce statistical graphs, their usefulness, and their variability in the type of information each one can provide.
Choosing which activity to implement will depend on the type of statistical idea or concept to be explored and discovered by students. Another example link on the website is the distribution of M&MÕs candies within one package. While this is generally a common statistical activity, the websiteÕs creator provides a letter that he wrote to the Mars Candy Company regarding their method of distribution of the different color candies in each individual bag. Teachers could either use the letter or the activity to motivate a discussion about frequency distribution.
As a teacher, I would certainly use many of these activities (most likely in altered form) to enhance statistical learning and motivate student engagement. Above, I have already provided two examples of how I would personally use the Super Bowl data and the M&MÕs activity. How I would alter any of the activities depend, again, on the activity. For example, while I would give the students the Super Bowl data I would not initially prescribe for them the ways in which to display the data. Instead, I would ask the students to think of how to represent the data visually in as many ways as possible. Then I would specifically cover the variety of ways addressed in the link to be sure to cover the many possibilities.
Additionally, the site also contains links to other great mathematical sites that could prove useful to the mathematics teacher. The author/creator of the site is a veteran (retired) mathematics teacher who appears to have faithfully kept up with technology over the many years of his teaching.