AP Students 5/28/15 Mrs. Daniel- AP Statistics Projects in School AP Students 5/28/15 Mrs. Daniel- AP Statistics

Executive Summary The survey given was to see if there was a link to how students felt about projects and other factors, including their ability to present, how many projects they got, and where they did projects. The survey was given to Mrs. Diallo’s 6th period AP Human Geography class, consisting of 2.5-4.0 GPAs. It seemed that while students tend to find projects helpful to their grade, they tend to not like them very much, asking for less of them. This may have to do with how good students are at art and presenting.

Summary of Research Questions The questions in this survey were designed to find an association between opinion on projects and various demographical data points, including but not limited to gender, GPA, and artistic ability. Furthermore, questions about working in groups vs. working individually , as well as questions on the amount of projects a student is assigned per year, were asked to see if they affected a students opinion on projects.

Explanation of why your group selected this specific topic The decision to conduct a survey based on projects was largely a product of being assigned this project. That got us thinking about correlations between students academic abilities and their opinions on projects, as well as possible correlations between enjoyment of projects and gender and artistic ability.

Demographics Majority of students were male (56%) 27.77% Majority of students were male (56%) A larger percentage of male students have higher GPAs than female students. 50.00% 50.00%

Do you like school projects? A respectable amount(35%) answered “I like them, but I could live without them” Most students tend to be against having projects, as 53% of students responded with “They’re tolerable, but I’d prefer not having them.

How many projects do you get a year? The greatest number of students(41%) answered “7 to 9” projects a year. No students had “0 to 3” projects a year 87.5% of the students surveyed responded that they had 12 or less projects a year.

Are you good at art/ have artistic skill? While most boys tended to say that they weren’t good in art, responding in either “No way” or “Meh” (83%), most girls thought they were ok or very good (57%)

Do you like presenting? Vs. How good are you at thinking on your feet? The students who dislike presenting have something to read, some improvising a lot and others only sometimes going off script The people who love presenting mostly don’t need a script or improvise a lot

In your opinion, do you have enough projects a year? Most students believe they either have just enough projects or too many, (90%). Additionally, most students think that they have just enough or some decent amount (81%)

How do projects affect your grade? Majority of students find that projects help their grades, rather than hurting them No students said projects killed their grades, and only 3 out of 32 responded that it hurt grades a little Thus, it seems projects help student grades

Do you do anything afterschool? A large amount of students do partake in activities afterschool, whether it be work, sports, clubs, or anything else. This may have to due with all the kids having high GPAs and thus needing more activities to consider for college applications

Do you prefer working by yourself or in a group? About equal amounts of students prefer working alone and in a group (7 and 8 respectively) Most students tend to not care about whether they work in a group or not (53%)

Do you prefer working on projects in school or at home? The amount of students who prefer working at home vs the amount who prefer in class is roughly the same (34% vs. 28%) Most students don’t care where they work on projects

What type of rubric do you prefer? Students prefer a balance of mixed rules and freedom Distribution is fairly symmetrical, meaning equal amount of students prefer more guidelines to those who prefer less.

Potential sources of bias and/or errors in the survey writings Convenience Sampling Only Mrs. Diallo’s 6th period class was sampled, so all students were AP No low GPA students Response Bias Reluctance to admit faults, such as being poor at thinking on your feet Possible overestimation of artistic skill Each persons definition of project could be different

Changes/Improvements In a year, students should receive less projects, as many feel as if the amount of projects they currently have is a little too much. Allow students to choose to present, as most students tend to not like projects very much, and this may be linked to the fact a large amount of students don’t like to present very much.

Changes/Improvements A good policy is to allow students to be free artistically, letting them use pictures off the Internet as male students tend to be less adept at art than females Teachers should make a basic outline of a rubric, and students can add their own creativity as they wish

Suggestions for further investigations/future surveys Relate this survey to a larger sample Do students tend to complete projects more or less based on grade level? (investigate senioritis) How many projects given in a class vs. type of class