8. Samples, Surveys, and Experiments (S3)
High School
- S3.1 Data Collection and Analysis
- El Nino or El No-no
Student interactive site where the students collect data (Water temperatures from ocean buoys.) and present it using different statistical methods. They will then predict what the future weather patterns will be from their collected data. - Glencoe Mathmatics - Webquest: "When is Weather Normal?"This site allows the student to become an assistant to a meteorologist for a local television station. The meteorologist wants to provide viewers with some interesting information about weather. The student is asked to research the relationship between latitude, longitude, and average monthly temperature and must prepare a portfolio of the data collected including any relationships shown by the data. Students could also prepare a Web page with the information. Very nice site already set up with links for students to use.
- Jurassic Oil: Fuel BlendingStudents will convert statements to the language of mathematics by determining the optimal blend of gasoline that minimizes cost. The website is not interactive but contains worksheets, teacher notes and case studies.
- Put the Heart Into MathematicsOutstanding! This NCTM (Illuminations) activity is geared for students in grades 9-12. This unit contains four different teacher lesson plans with reproducible student worksheets, and interactive graphing and data collection capabilities. The lessons provided explore cardiac output by measuring the amount of blood being pumped by an experimental heart. Students will explore rates of change and accumulation in the context of cardiac output and accumulation using hands on experimentation, data collection, "pencil and paper" activities, etc.
- Shedding Light on the Subject: Function Models of Light DecayPresented by NCTM (Illuminations), this website provides the teacher with a four lesson unit on the decay of light as an exponential model. Teachers will appreciate the printer friendly lesson plans accompanied by student objectives, worksheets, and references. The site includes an interactive grapher and downloadable movie clips (quick time required) for students.
- Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
A WebQuest for high school statistics classes that is student interactive. Students are asked to become the statistician and find the greatest baseball hitter of all time. Students use the web to collect factual statistical information as they complete the project. This activity is excellent for cooperative learning and group work, but could also be done independently - What Percentage of your Class is Right or Left Handed?Cythia Lanius provides this lesson for high school students to determine the percentage of students that are right or left handed in a classroom. Students perform experiments, collect data, graph the data, and analyze their findings. Worksheets, spreadsheets and teacher notes are available.
- El Nino or El No-no