1. Understanding Measurement Units of Data Jennifer NickellAshley Whitehead NC State University jnickel@ncsu.edu NCCTM State Conference Greensboro, NCOctober 31, 2014

2. Difference between Mathematics and Statistics Statistics requires a different kind of thinking, because data are not just numbers, they are numbers with a context” (Moore & Cobb, 1997, p.801). Statistics is it’s own discipline not a branch of mathematics Mathematics we solve for the right answer Statistics utilizes mathematics but is more! Interpreting the context to answer a question

3. Statistical Investigative Cycle Formulate a Question Collect Data Analyze Data using Graphs & Measures Interpret Results in the Context

4. Are these contexts reasonable? Data: 32, 20, 38, 35, 36, 28, 68, 33 Pounds lost on a weight loss program Ages of new mothers Length of women’s hair

5. What is a reasonable context? 21, 30, 8, 2, 15, 18, 25, 6, 13 73, 97, 86, 80, 67, 107, 89, 116, 72

6. U.S. Census at School http://www.amstat.org/censusatschool/ Students in Grades 4 – 12 Complete a personal information survey Analyze class results Compare their results nationally or internationally Sample Data Set

7. Personal Information Survey

8. Animation of 6 th Graders

9. Free license of TinkerPlots http://www.srri.umass.edu/tinker plots/purchase http://www.srri.umass.edu/tinker plots/purchase

10. Questions??? Feel free to email us at jnickel@ncsu.edu anwhiteh@ncsu.edu