Activities: In-class, small-group

Types of data

• Using Names to Investigate Types of Data.  An activity which involves analyzing the first and last names of groups of students to illustrate that the choice of statistical analysis depends on the type of data. Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

• The Effect of an Outlier on the Mean and Median. This activity involves having students analyze how many significant others they have had.  One data point is multiplied by 10 to determine how the sample mean and sample median are affected by an outlier.  Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

Describing data graphically

• Histogram of student GPAs. An activity in which small groups of 3-4 students analyze a histogram and two-way table of counts.  The activity illustrates how the choice of a graph depends upon the type of data. Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

Probability and random variables

• Diagnostic Testing. An introduction to diagnostic testing by analyzing data to determine the accuracy of a pregnancy test.  Submitted by Laura J. Simon.
• Relative Risk and Related Measures. An activity which involves reading two different news articles which report relative risk and related measures. Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

Binomial distribution

• Binomial Distribution. Involves defining a binary categorical variable and performing an analysis on the variable. Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

• Normal Distribution. An activity which uses a normal distribution to allow students to find various percentiles pertaining to the amount of time students sleep. Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

• Average Number of Hours Students Report Studying Weekly.  Involves using data from small groups of four students to illustrate the variability among sample means.  Submitted by William L. Harkness.
• Sampling Distributions. An activity which involves collecting random samples and determining the shape of the distributions. Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

• Large Sample Confidence Intervals For Means.  An activity which involves calculating a confidence interval for the mean. Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

• Probability and Statistical Inference.  An activity which involves drawing mints from a bag to illustrate how probability is used to make inferences about a population.  Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

• Average Length of Last Names.  Involves using data from small groups of students to perform hypothesis tests on the mean length of student last names. Submitted by William L.  Harkness.