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Skunk: A Stem-and-Leaf Plot Activity: Curriculum Key Concepts

This document describes a classroom activity called "Skunk" that teaches students how to construct and interpret stem-and-leaf plots using probability and collected data. Students play a dice game to gather numerical data and record their scores. They then create a stem-and-leaf plot on the board to display the data. By analyzing the plot, students can identify patterns and discuss measures of central tendency. The activity is designed for grades 6-8 and teaches key statistical concepts over the course of 45 minutes.

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Saya Bijak
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327 views3 pages

Skunk: A Stem-and-Leaf Plot Activity: Curriculum Key Concepts

This document describes a classroom activity called "Skunk" that teaches students how to construct and interpret stem-and-leaf plots using probability and collected data. Students play a dice game to gather numerical data and record their scores. They then create a stem-and-leaf plot on the board to display the data. By analyzing the plot, students can identify patterns and discuss measures of central tendency. The activity is designed for grades 6-8 and teaches key statistical concepts over the course of 45 minutes.

Uploaded by

Saya Bijak
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
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Skunk: A Stem-and-Leaf Plot Activity

Kristina Anthony, NSF Scholar, 2002-03, Mathematics & Science Center and Virginia Commonwealth University. Developed as a component of the course, Data Displays, Summer 2003, funded by the National Science Foundation (DGE0086320) and the Mathematics & Science Center.

Curriculum Key Concepts Description

Grades 6-8; Probability and Statistics Collect, organize, display, and interpret data in a stem-andleaf plot. Students will gather data using a probability driven activity. The data gathered will be used to construct a stem-and-leaf. Inferences will be made using a single and double stem-and-leaf plot. 2 dice Skunk Activity Sheet Follow normal classroom safety rules. 45 minutes 1. Each student begins the game by standing. The teacher rolls the dice. Each student gets the sum of the two numbers and enters it in the first S on their worksheet. 2. From now on, before each toss, a student has two choices. a. They can sit down and collect no points for that roll. b. They can choose to stand. For those students standing, the dice are tossed. If the number is a seven or eleven, all students standing lose all of their points in that column. If the number is not a seven or eleven, the number is added to their total score. c. Students sitting when a seven or eleven is rolled get to keep all their points in that column. 3. Once a seven or eleven is rolled, students must move on to the next column. 4. Repeat Step 2 for the other letters in Skunk. A total of five rounds are competed. 5. At the end of the fifth round each student adds the scores from the five columns.

Materials Safety Time Procedure

Skunk A Stem-and-Leaf Activity

http://mathinscience.info

6. While students are adding their scores, draw a stem-and-leaf plot on the board, with stems ranging 0 to 9. This is to represent the 10s units of the total score. If the numbers are higher, we can move into the hundreds digits. 7. As the students finish adding, direct them to come to the front of the room and record their score on the stem-and-leaf plot. 8. After all students have recorded their scores, discuss the method used to construct a stem-and-leaf plot. Also, discuss any trends that can be seen in the plot. 9. Repeat Steps 1-4 with the class. 10. Construct a double stem-and-leaf plot on the other side of the one all ready on the board. Students should come to the front of the room and enter their score on the stem-and-leaf plot. 11. Discuss any patterns, conclusions, and predictions. If students have discussed the measures of central tendency, have them find the measures for each round and compare. Resources Stem-and-Leaf Lessons An online lesson that goes through the components of a stemand-leaf. Provides the teacher ideas and student activities. There is also an interactive stem-and-leaf plots http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/stemleaf/ 1. This game should be played before you teach probability using two dice. 2. A table is included to enter data from each roll, but a sheet of notebook paper would work. Just have students draw columns and label them with the letters of Skunk". 3. Do not allow students to enter any score if they are half sitting, half standing. I consider this an automatic out for that round. They need to pick one or the other.

Teacher Notes/ Advance Preparation

Skunk A Stem-and-Leaf Activity

http://mathinscience.info

Skunk Activity Sheet S K U N K

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Total

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Total

Skunk A Stem-and-Leaf Activity

http://mathinscience.info

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